Life Support

    by John Davis Jr.

I’m hooked to three machines, and you

and my mother are arguing out

of courtesy — “You take the recliner;

you need to sleep.” That’s all I can do

after the seizures and ensuing

brain bleed that got me choppered

here: the big-city hospital where men

on scaffolds clean smog-clouded windows

outside the ninth floor where I lie unresponsive

to your exchange with Mom, who dabs

with wet white cloths the dried froth

from around my lips — crusted palaver.

The wind picks up, the cleaners

grow sea legs, and you close

the blinds on the high, bright world.

I open my eyes to the dark.

© 2013  John Davis Jr.

John Davis Jr. is the author of Growing Moon, Growing Soil: Poems of my Native Land. He serves as English Department Chair for the Vanguard School of Lake Wales, an international boarding and day school for students with mild to moderate learning differences, including Asperger’s Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dysgraphia. His poetry has been published in literary magazines internationally, including recent appearances in Saw Palm, Real South magazine, and other fine publications. His work has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.