"Urgent Care"
"His face twitches as the nurse tries to find a vein.
Three strikes you're out, he says under meds, under pain,
under his breath.
Blood tests ordered, IV ports into skin,
into the thin tube of a dried out vein.
How long did you shoot drugs?
she asks, pulling on gloves now, avoiding his blue eyes.
The rubber hose bulges his upper arm as she probes.
He twitches twice this time.
I don't think we need to talk about that right now, he says,
polite as hell, 12 steps embedded in his worn out soul,
needle marks up and down his suntanned arms.
She finally finds a spot on top of his right hand,
and the red milk flows.
Three glass vials fill up slow with secrets of his life.
All those sweet street drugs, all that rust,
all that crash and stop, all those microscopic drops
of wasted desire."