Poem #5

Urgent Care Summer

I'm at a fair

watching hog wrestling with family

ketchup and mustard in my hair

and on my jeans -

Noah smeared it there

and I'm thinking he's such a brat

when my grandpa gets a call from my dad, who said

I need to get home stat

my little brother had been burned

and had been flown to Portland, and that

he wasn't sure how long

we would need to stay at the McDonald House -

how many months we'd be gone.

We drove all night to the burn center

Justin was fourteen and not very strong.

When we got there he was covered in gauze,

blisters and ooze and greasy tears

Doctors had shoved a feeding tube up his nose.

In the next few weeks he endured great pain

just watched him stay alive inspired applause.

At one point when they put him under

to scrape off his dead gray skin

he woke up during the procedure and wondered

why he could hear and feel but not see or move.

He was allergic to the sedative – it was a frightening blunder.

Slowly, Justin recovered

he plagued the poor psychologist lady

because he hated the way she hovered.

The doctors gave him milkshakes and grafts

people sent so many cards he nearly smothered.

While he healed, our family picked peaches,

caught up with relatives,

enjoyed Seaside's beaches.

Justin's grafts healed well -

the doctors didn't have to use leeches.

He's doing much better now

besides some nightmares and PTSD

I'm glad he pulled through, and surprised at how

sometimes we forget he looks unusual at all.

His will to live has left me cowed

Not all the effects were deleterious.

Though he was self-conscious for a while

all those scars just make him look mysterious

and now he tells the story

to anyone who is curious.