← v9n2, Fall 2010
Poetry · Volume 9, Number 2

Ochre viii

This, dear Ida, was my first full night of sleep

Since arriving in Santa Fe. Maria the nurse,

Who I’ve grown quite fond of (though she speaks

Little English), has a Kodak of her own.

                                                              The flash

Didn’t wake me. I could have slumbered through Judgment Day.

The evening before—do not be alarmed, my dear—

I coughed two cups of blood into a basin

While Maria propped up my head.

But then the night terror

Vanished. The sunset turned the light a dusty saffron.

& let me tell you a curious dream: Dr. Weiss

Had wheeled me to a vaulted room. We both had lab coats on.

Under his microscope he lodged the slide. “This

Kingdom lies within,” he whispered—the good tissue muddy brown,

The bacilli a stunning blue

& swift as minnows they swam.