Rochelle Hope Mehr · After Two Months of Accompanying My Parents


I can't just bounce from event to event
Without trying to make sense of the sequence
But nothing orderly or meaningful
Emerges from the blur
Of white coats and IV's and stethoscopes
And stents and fine needle probes
Lumpectomies, endoscopies, hemicolectomies --
It's all a blur of white noise, a wish-wash
I cannot imbibe.

I'm thankful to leave the hospital
In one piece --
Alive.