210922 (written in August): in the ER

aug. 30

in the ER

we sit against the walls like refugees 

who have reached the other side

come in from the pain 

across the roads and the city to seek help

triaged into curtained cells segregated

we wait

the border guards, doctors and nurses,

interrogate and run tests, draw blood and maybe, give medicine

we are starved and broken and afraid 

too numerous too poor and in pain in this pandemic time

hours we wait for help

draped against the plague

lined up along the twisted corridor

masked and huddled

in the clothes we were wearing at the river

our belongings at our feet

arms in makeshift wraps

faces in twisted pain

patient as wounded soldiers

a grey-haired woman, small and confused

cannot comprehend the medical-speak that explains her stop-gap care

a man in a cartoon t-shirt rests his black and bloated foot on a chair

his sandal in his hand

a young man holds his head, a woman her child

a nurse gives a bus schedule to a woman in a pale housecoat 

but her bag is empty of fare.

the nurses and the doctors back and forth

hand out bandaid succour, secure their accountability

and we are sent away

to suffer or seek other care

pertinent documents are duly filed, we have our papers of passage in hand

back into the fighting find a doctor 

and the medicines prescribed

money to pay for it all

we don't know when we are turned away

even what is wrong 

- "ask your doctor, ask some smuggler who can get you back across

with his medical credentials, test results"

maybe we just wait by the river 

and cross again

be triaged again

explain again why we have come

and new documents are given us and filed...

we seek a promised "yes"

 a final answer 

a passport 

while the george orwell irony that names this place "health centre" 

twists in our minds

but these papers are every one counterfeit - they say

here is your answer

but as you leave the building you realize

you still don't know what's wrong and you are still in pain

this is just another "no"

go back to the other shore

mumma yaga 

210830

I am not entirely happy with this poem. I would enjoy feedback.

Very a propos: https://www.positive.news/society/the-refugee-dictionary-defines-the-word-refugee-in-1000-different-ways/