Last night was an extended open mic for Stone Soup. I wasn't expecting that for Stone Soup's anniversary month, but it was the best choice given how crazy it's been the last three weeks (and we have a strong finish planned for next Monday). We even had a new voice come up, so that's always great. Here's the poem.
Sick Day
Instead of the Japanese method
of mending broken pottery with gold
I heal myself with other broken things,
transfuse with the bloodline
of infected generations.
My therapeutic massages
come as strikes on the back
from an angry sister's brush.
I should never be given voting power
over my own healthcare.
I take the plan given to
coughing refugees in the midwest,
afraid to lose more than my health.
My politics govern me worse
than the government.
When I feel unwell, I realpolitik.
My journal entries after
my gaze in the mirror
notes politics as usual.
For dinner I scavenge for the most
picked parts, purporting piety.
My unborn, unconceived child
visits me far less now,
voice sounding more faint,
less hopeful, now that
the hallway in my dreams
is less cluttered by prospects.
I'm too clam and comfortable with this
without even my parents to stop by
and egg my eggless self on.
I don't make a big deal of this
I call in sick and still go to work.
It helps me hid from diagnosis.
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| The open mic was short enough that a Dexter went twice. I won't tell you which Dexter, though. |
Special thanks to Lee Varon, Kal Gezahegn, Dexter Garcia, Big Poppa Ben, Martha Boss, Dexter Roberts, Skoot, Jamila Ouriour, DiDi Delgado and Megan Rugab.
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