I walk from work a smile upon my face
a busy shift, 'Emergency' the place.
Where sick and injured come in through the door
and we are always ready to care for.
Alarms are sounding, monitors beep, beep,
all beds are full, and to their needs we leap.
Check vital signs, the temp, pulse, and BP
take blood, a urine test, an ECG.
Put in an I.V. Cannula I will
if veins are difficult, it takes some skill.
Next, take them to Xray to have a scan
or, if their bladder's full offer a pan.
For pain, give medication, reassess?
but if they vomit, I'll clean up their mess.
For patient comfort always tops the list,
and to ensure this happens I'll assist.
When cold, a nice warm blanket brings a smile
sometimes I'll hold their hand a little while.
With reassuring voice allay their fears,
if they're upset then wipe away their tears.
Write up my notes including all I've done,
hand over to the next nurse one by one.
The hours seem to quickly run away
and soon my shift is finished for the day.
I'll say goodbye to patients in my care
be glad, that on this day I have been there.
I walk from work a smile upon my face
A busy shift, Emergency the place.
I watched you grasp for air
You fought and fought hard
I felt helpless
I wanted to help but didn’t know how
Your hospital monitors were going crazy
I wanted to cry but couldn’t
It was like voices in my head saying shouldn’t
Witnessed your agony and pain
Tears wanted to fall
I held back
Your eyes and body went into a seizure
I knew from within
You would be leaving this Earth
Suddenly your body went lump
I felt your leg and it was cold
Your eyes were closed and then totally breathless
You got your heavenly wings
I cried uncontrollable
Into the skies your soul soared
You roam now in the ever after.
My sisters stroked my girlfriends hair
Saying lovely hair
Then both of them went into
a cupboard under the stairs
Like something a la Burton
Sorry my ex-girlfriend
I am ashamed by my country
Where do you hand in your documents to leave the human race
Glad you enjoyed space
Cause everything is melting
Watch you don’t burn your lips
on the earth
Trump I mean really was there nobody could do a half decent Kermit impression
What do you get if you cross chocolate with children
a visit by Prince
and drew a breath
Those things that monitors speed
Pedo
meter
We need someone to invent hope
as we choke boke
a clicking in my throat
with the stroke
of a note
this I have wrote
They said you’d never survive,
That there were complications with the pregnancy,
They told me it would be painful,
Yet they made you stay in my womb.
They said there was nothing they could do,
That you were too weak,
They knew they couldn’t save you,
But that they could save me.
There used to be a choice for me,
But I don’t have a choice anymore,
We’ve been stripped of the rights to our own bodies,
Now I’m in danger.
Carrying you could kill me,
My life is a ticking clock,
I wish I could have saved your precious life,
But you might end mine.
My face is turning pale,
As I lay here in this hospital bed,
Blood runs down my thighs,
As my body slowly shuts down.
Monitors beep around me,
Each one forms a part of a song,
I’m being pumped full of fluids,
With IV tubes in both arms.
My life hangs in the balance,
I get weaker every minute,
But all they can do is hope for the best,
Because they can’t save me without removing you.
A bottle of sore throat relief spray lies on my desk
Along with sixteen torn up pages of past written poems
My cell phone sits here too, a box of Kleenexes, six notebooks
There are two computer monitors on this desk
I like clutter, it makes me feel safe and loved
Is that a barrette? I watch it moving steadily away
A tiny pincher bug, adding a bit of life to this mess
Chickens
Much better things to use chickens for are:
waiters, school crossing
monitors, paper
weights, door
stoppers, getting us
soda cans, handing us
toilet paper, mowing the
lawns, changing channels on the
TV, washing cars, reading to
us before we go to
bed.
Don't ignore the stop sign
on the yellow school bus.
You may be in a hurry
but safety should come first.
The bus is full of children
slow down just take your time
Something unexpected might happen
so please bear that in mind.
A little consideration
goes a long long way.
So keep your eyes wide open
and give the bus the right of way.
Then those school bus monitors
who always do their best.
Will feel much more content
having put their minds at rest.
what do you write about?
I look on my desk
besides two computer monitors I have
sore throat spray
plastic owl with a rotating head
snowman Christmas felt craft kit
two-sided ceramic dish in crisscross design
Disney princess counting numbers game
red sunglasses with lens that are black
nickel coin collection from my dad
large print thesaurus and dictionary
broken pencil
Dick Blick catalog
tiny scrap of gum
hair gel
empty glass
toy glow creature
Yes,
I could clean this off
but in a week it would look the same
just new contenders
Bus monitors, support staff, heed this plea, before you are home free. Be vigilant, Check every corner, crevice, every nook you see. A child left behind, abandoned in fear, Is a wound and stain that sears.
In the aftermath of birth to my last child, a procedure was
performed the next day, intense breathing, anxiety and
overwhelms me. code blue announced over the intercom
I'm having respiratory distress caused by the anesthesia.
The electronic vital sign monitors beep, I'm flatlined for
30 minutes after loss of consciousness according to medical
staff, I'm revived and hooked up to a ventilator. Out-of-body
encounter, I'm amongst the clouds looking down at the medical
is staff working on me am I in heaven or hell? I was suddenly
approached by a male image, the face not seen gave me a
hug a kiss on my right cheek, and said I'm not done with
you and I were awakened on the third day. Out-of-body
encounters.
Technological marvel:
who’d have ever guessed?
They went to the moon,
powered by less.
The thing receives phone calls,
it’s got GPS,
a mindfulness app
for when you are stressed.
It monitors heart rate,
can produce EKGs,
prompts you when it’s time:
take your medicine, please.
Blood-oxygen levels,
hours of REM sleep;
If you’re under the water,
it knows just how deep.
If you’re lost in the woods,
it will help get you back,
or blast a loud siren
if you’re under attack.
The steps that you took,
the stairs that you climbed,
record a voice memo
to capture a rhyme.
Listening to music,
or receiving a text,
keep up with your groceries,
so your wife won’t be vexed.
For the gals, tracking cycles,
and for all, track your phone,
keeps up with the NASDAQ,
and the stocks that you own.
But it doesn’t record
all the things that you missed -
Life in arrest,
watching your wrist.
Demonstrators in all riots
Aren’t at all full or half idiots:
Any fellow on Rich Diet
Most likely will remain quiet…
Idiots don’t fear Police Canister,
Whose contents are damned sinister.
Cops begin to consult Tear Gas
And vanish would even a lass;
For man fancies not Helpless Tear;
Once its source sights, to The Rear...
With Betrayers they remonstrate,
Against The Bizarre demonstrate:
Idiots don’t know when Auditors
Are Arranged Phony Monitors…
Your So-Called Idiots know the risks
In one playing too long corrupt disks:
Just The Accidental Discharge
That make rioters not in-charge;
Yet, those that voice it keep quiet:
You don’t Idiots meet in Riot.
Floating in vacuum,
morphine intravenous supplied,
pain deadened,
she lies dormant, oblivious to all,
thoughts suppressed,
unfeeling and benumbed
in the emergency cubicle.
Her husband holds her hand,
icy, like winter at its worst.
She moans, eyes flutter,
only to fall asleep again.
Anesthetized she finds rest.
Monitors bleep to rhythm,
steady as she goes just like
a sailing boat on rough seas.
She will survive.
Husband bewildered.
A human vegetable?
Oh no the expert says.
She will be fine.
The husband dials a number,
talks softly not to disturb.
There will be no divorce,
it's best that they give up
and do not meet again.
The woman on the bed groans.
Is that a smile on her lips?
An Angel's Face
There she was, lost between starched white sheets
feeding tubes inserted heart monitors in place
The family was outside in the hallway praying
while mom held her hand and sang to her
Then in the softness of a whispered prayerful hour
the machine began to beep and all hell broke loose
Doctors and nurses rushed to her side, stark sober
as a dying child left, mom staggered a cry "please "
Paddles were set in place as everyone prayed
not a sound was uttered from our lips as we waited
Meanwhile in heaven the peek of an angel's face
brought down a house of angels as the heart stopped
There she lay tangled up between life and death
one filament chord detached and up she went
When she saw her mother's tears , she returned
with all the courage one could muster,
She squeezed back into her broken body,
and lived....
I inspect him,
a sweetheart specimen
in a cage.
Fluffy like winter snow.
Squeaking in tempo.
In a cage.
Critically
he secretly watches me.
A wave of dread seeps into my head when I scroll through
my phone instead
of studying.
He monitors me in captivity.
Crazy cute and certainly not mute, Marshmallow the
Guinea pig squeals to demand a cold crunchy carrot.
Feisty while foraging through the vegetable garden, Marshmallow
the guinea pig has more to say than a cockatoo parrot.
Jolts of excitement race inside his fun-sized body.
In a cage.
Critically
lurking.
If I pick my nose, he knows.
Under his mustache smirking.
His squeak sounds meek
but
if he could talk fur - real, I’d undergo
an ordeal
if my secrets he chose to reveal.
A puff of fluff that I cuddle when life gets rough.
He popcorns and plays while I spend my days
in lectures on Zoom.
Marshmallow knows
I hate being alone
in a room.
In a cage.
Critically
I need him.
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