Sticks
you call em legs
theyre sticks
the flops on her feet were
bigger than her thighs or calves
the XL Mens dull washedout blue
jean workshirt open over the top of her knee-length
cream and
coloured-floral muumuu didnt help matters
she reminded him of a series of
reasons why he preferred not attending doctors offices
ERs or hospitals
she was a terrible offset to
the fatty populace wading around outside her hiding door as
sooner or later those without would be seeking ministrations within
sooner or later those without would be seeking ministrations within
as she was now
for reasons unknown to him and would remain
unknown -- others could check her
Facebook -- and
would probably be as frustrated as she was with the medical
footdragging
be here On Time
and Wait
-- The doctor will see you now
and Wait in an interior antechamber unseen from outside
-- The doctor will see you now
See the active verb
See
if hell sit down long enough to hear
what it is you have to say
look you in the face
not
distracted looking at the floor
the bedside manner of a hooker
-- I love you long time til you
dead
cuz theres always another john
waiting in the next roomif you can get that first mornings appointment you wont have to worry sloppy-seconds
those slopped up and squeezed out of a janitors mophead
the graywater that made the Utility Rooms deep-sink retch as it tried desperately to
pinch its nose shut
-- What the hell is that
what the hell it was was people not really caring all that much for
themselves
running roughshod through
their lives
until their untied shoestrings or flopping Velcro-straps catch
and theyre dropped hard on their faces
then
fingering the ground or the askew crack-in-the-sidewalk
something anything other than themselves
for their predicament
their rote excuses echoing
excuses made
rote by the assemblies of irresponsible corporations whose bottomline decisions
are ruled by morally bankrupt individuals
those coddled Business/Finance degree
selfish-types
-- I want In I want Out and I want it in the shortest time possible
decisions
based on premise no higher a vault than a snake could crawl over
No Offense intended the snake
its been crawling on its belly longer than man- and woman-things have climbed
frantically into trees or run away to escape its Natural delineations and deliberations
or Societies impoverished and impossible
Ideals
propped
up on the spiny backs of moneymaking snakeoil schemes
No
there
would be no offense intended
none
taken
the
snake
wasnt
the idiot
it was fine wound in the staff
or Rod of Asclepius
from
there it watched us
humored
enjoying Theres nothing better than good oldfashioned
American assbackwardness
it laughed between its split
tongue
-- Assholes the
call was blown back in 1800s
and
as America does
it
doesnt admit its mistakes
it dismissed the difference
and
fell hard for the fraud the caduceus
it
belonged to Hermes quick and
cunning God of Trade and Thieves and
Travelers
His
caduceus
if
you look
if you pay
any attention
it bears two snakes climbing a winged staff
it hissed
the Rod
of Asclepius
bears
a single snake
according
to Greek mythology
Asclepius
is the God of healing
a psychopomp Hermes
escorted souls to the afterlife
Asclepius supplicants
you
would call them His patients
sought
Him to be healed
on the floors of His temples crawled
the Asclepiusian snakes freely among the sufferers
no cowardly tree climbing or fleeing
on frieze four or eight-legged motion
creatures
none
evidently
once you were courageous man- and woman-things
the ritual purifications were followed
by offerings or sacrifices to Asclepius and get this
the snake licked its chops
According to their Means
theres a patently unAmerican concept
often supplicants had to spent a
night in the temple in its holiest place called the abaton
then in the morning they shared their dreams
or visions with a priest
you might call them your
doctors
who
helped interpret and prescribe therapies according to their visions
it sighed
gasp
pant
or scratch your asses for all I care
then it slithered down the
staff and let itself out
Done with the Show
over its undulating back it
called out
-- It seems your ancients were far more adept
and in tune with their senses and bodies
then youll ever be
0915, Tuesday,
29 7. 14
1318, Wednesday,
30 7. 14
