part-time job
4 hours this time
potassium infusion
polyester furniture and hospital smell
not the retirement you planned
instead of some splendid sunset
it’s scans
and syringes
and smiling like it’s fine
4 hours last time
MRI roadtrip
tubes and tired and tomography
you’ve been working too much
half-days adding up
so we hold hands
and hide and hope
and heaven help us all
we lick the word from fearful lips
lymphomalymphoma
lucky you
11 thoughts on "part-time job"
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You captured the tone in this one. Scary! Hope all goes well.
This is great and accurate and terrible. It is a part time job. Love the title.
This is beautiful and heart-wrenching all at once. I LOVE the alliteration.
Bless your heart
Writing this in scraps mimics the trauma. Good match with the form!
🫂
Wow – fearful is right!
Touches the heart. Best wishes!
I think the bit of dark humor “lucky you” adds so much complexity to the ambivalence of the tone. Well done and thanks for sharing!
Sending love. There’s something really sonically interesting, too, about “we lick the word from fearful lips” followed by the alliterative l of “lymphomalymphoma/lucky you” that concludes this so sonically well.
Heartfelt and haunting. I love that you did not use capitals or punctuation – paring down words to the core. Sending love and light.