White coat whispers condolences
to black & white bridegroom,
crooked duck-billed cane leans in a corner,
pregnant woman sets off Geiger counter,
Rostafarian knits table-mats,
child-vomiting-directions on the wall,
Koreans lost in General Hospital;

“Will someone please answer that phone?!”

Orange-awninged woman watches ambulances through blind slats,
patient Washington to registration,
corrupted chap from Cheltenham paces in straight lines,
commercial jingles dance on the ceiling,
washed-up camp director lays wounded camper across the chairs,
occasion for reading “Patient’s Bill of Rights,”
Morris of the duck-billed cane complains greedily
about his crazy whippet of a wife,
smeary-faced Power Ranger refuses to answer the phone.

copyright 1996