glass in hand
the good friend said I should go to emergency
it's just a cut i said
he insisted
hand so swollen i listened
the first hospital found the glass shard
the surgeon dug for it for 20mn
it wouldn't come out
so he stitched it up and told me to
find a hand surgeon
...visions of left-handedness and unemployment
i stole a cigarette from a guy in a wheelchair
i wanted to cry and she called me
hearing her made me better
she drove all the way to hug and comfort me
she located a hand surgeon
she took me there and stayed with me
the night before a busy workday
i love my girlfriend
she said it was an adventure and cheered me up
the ER sheet said "glass in hand" and we laughed
i didn't laugh when i thought i wouldn't be home for my little guy
she said everything was going to be ok
also the good laughs
lots of things we never see
to look at
the limegreen sweatshirt homeless lady sleeping seated and so straight
the old man with the cowboy hat checking the vending machines for forgotten change
the car crash boy and his sleeping mom
the funny walking old guy with the "someone loves you" paris t-shirt
the fat girl obsessively probing the small girl
the kids cuffed at the ankles and the cops keeping an eye on them
all the messed up bodies, many of them so lonely and poor
the security guards abusive bulliness
the natural slowness of things
the cool supersurgeons
the trouble to get the glass out of the hand
the nifty realtime xray machine
the awful pain of
pulling tendons and pushing bones
her holding my other hand so good
the odd sound of my own screaming
the bit of glass
the relief
the morphin
the drive home
my bed
being lucky