Angela of St. Mary's

I

Blood on the doorknob
Blood in the wastebasket
Piss on the floor

The smell of vomit
and vending machine coffee
and the cross everywhere

They pump me full of morphine
while a Chinese lady thanks Jesus
on the intercom

They ask me if I have a church preference

My heart hurts

No
I tell them

I piss in a jug

while Jesus watches
crucified
and an elderly lady babbles
behind the curtains across from me

I like the nurse tending to me

She is very pretty

she tells me I have nice veins

When she leaves
I smell lavender

I could stay there all day
full of morphine
smelling her
next to a jug of my own piss
with a crucified Jesus watching me

Six hours later
the doctor tells me
there's nothing wrong
it's probably just a muscle strain

He writes me a prescription for Ibuprofen

and I leave
the smell of lavender
with a hurting heart

II

I have a beer
while I wait for my prescription

The bartender walks over
she sees the patch on my arm
the strap to her tank top falls
she lifts it up

"Did you get your flu shot today?"
she asks

"No" I tell her
"I was in the ER"

"Oh my god!
What for?!"

"Nothing.
It was a false alarm."

© 2009 Lee Kitzis