The Nurses in There

    by Dianne Silvestri

splashed smiles into my room

and always asked before leaving

if I needed anything more.

For me they nabbed coveted packs

of sugar, sleeves of chicken bouillon,

and sachets of green tea in hot water.

It mattered to them what I was doing,

how I felt, what were my concerns.

They conveyed my messages to the doctors,

presented my plea to food service,

shifted my schedule of doses

to allow me into the shower

and to patch together some sleep.

They laughed at “Vancoke,” my name

for the soda-doused acrid drug

and the “Swamp Juice” hung in a brown-

shrouded IV bag,

poured pity and tips for my “ghoulmouth”

and “gob-stopper” secretions.

Several of them became my friends,

so now when I am re-admitted

with an anguishing new complication,

at least the reunion is happy.

© 2015  Dianne Silvestri

Dianne Silvestri is a poet, physician, and stem cell transplant recipient.  She has authored the chapbook Necessary Sentiments.  Her poems have appeared in The Healing Muse, The Pharos, Blood and Thunder, The Comstock Review, Earth’s Daughters, Evening Street Review, Steam Ticket, Apeiron Review, Blast Furnace, The Somerville Times and two anthologies.