I have good news about your blood work
Your cholesterol looks good,
But your sugar is 5.9,
That isn’t pre-diabetic
But it’s heading there
Looks like you lost some weight since the last time you were here
Does that concern you
How are things at home
Any concerns with your sex life
How often
How long has it been
Are you eating well
Are you sleeping well
Do you ever feel sad
Do you ever feel despondent
So tell me what’s going on
I don’t know how to get through this
It is there when I wake up
And it is there when I go to sleep
Every day, a hundred or so
Sometimes more,
Here, there, young, old
Men, women, children, infants
In tents, basements, hospitals, and schools
On the beach and in the road
So many
You know
They stopped counting in February
He blinks and makes a note
I’m sorry to hear that
People are posting
They are posting videos
They are posting recordings,
Phone calls, clips, snippets of
Beheadings, immolations, mass graves
Girls are posting their final poems
Boys send last messages to mothers and sisters
To the rubble of their homes, their city, their land
An old man points to a crater,
Or a missing limb
An orphan points at the sky
Or a tattered kite
Or a story
And then they are gone forever
No surviving family
Disappeared in broad daylight
Captured, recorded
But gone forever
This forever is still going,
You know,
They stopped counting in February
There’s a long pause
As he finishes his notes
Are you ready for your flu shot today?
I pay the co-pay and leave
Later, my shoulder starts to ache
Where the injection was
At dinner, a pretend-real fever
And actual symptoms of mock fatigue
I rub the sore muscle
And listen to the celebrations outside
My neighbors are dancing
My neighbors are singing
They have won
And now they are choosing
Their next Amalek.
(November 2024)