Two Experiences, Two Model Poems

I worked in the rehab unit of a hospital for about 2 years before going to the New Life Center, and then finally the ER (the pinnacle of hospital work). On the rehab unit, we took care of people who had brain injuries, strokes, amputations, etc. This patient we had for about 6 months, and he was fucked from a meth lab gone bad. He had a cardiac arrest and his friends propped him up in a corner for 45 minutes, blue, while they cleaned up the meth lab. Then they called an ambulance. Oxygen deprivation like that strips a human of everything but his most raw, core self. This patient wasn't a good guy, and he and I went toe-to-toe many times. So poem 1 is my experience with him. Poem 2 is a re-write from his niece's point of view. Interesting.

In the style of “Meeting Bill” by Bob Hicok
Jessie Ruckman

Jason

Meeting Jason I thought
Jesus. You’re on meth.
Long, flowing hair gave
the god-like impression.
And like god, he
held breath and took 45
in the corner,
blue while his friends
ridded house of lab.
Then carefully dialed 9-1-1. His brain
was fried like the contents in the teaspoon
held over a candle and cooked. But
deprivation like Jason’s showed
only the most intuitive parts of man.
And as I stood eye to eye
With Meth Personified,
daring him to lunge – another
part of man peeked out from hiding –
Coward.

Jason, Revisited


Meeting Uncle Jason again I thought
You look different. You look sad, and I am
afraid,
Afraid of the new Uncle Jason. Mama says
You look like Jesus.
“Long, flowing hair gives
the god-like impression,” Mama says.
But I just see you. Well, someone kinda like you.
Mama said, “His brain
was fried like the contents in the teaspoon
held over a candle and cooked.”
Were you in a cooking accident?
I wonder, but I am too afraid to ask. What
happened to your face? Did you get into a fight?
Your face is all scratchy and red. I don’t want to kiss
the new Uncle Jason good night. But you don’t want
to kiss me either, I think. Because
as I stand looking up to the new Uncle Jason
daring him to love me – another
part of New Jason peeked out from hiding –
Coward.