Room 511

I didn’t walk yesterday,

ordered out for wings,

didn’t cook or lift weights,

went to bed before 9,

told myself it was just a nap.

4 am, I woke from a dream

I had been sent to Room 511

to prepare a patient

for electro shock therapy.

I untied her gown,

strapped her tight to the bed.

She said her mother died

of breast cancer and her boyfriend’s parents

sent him away to law school,

because the landlord beat his face in

with a can of green beans

for screwing his wife.

Doctors told her this would help,

She said she was glad I was there with her

and asked if I would come visit.

She drifted off to sleep; the doctor said

she won’t know you tomorrow

and don’t visit her during recovery.

I don’t remember her name,

but I remember holding her down;

convulsing and jerking, eyes looking back

into her head when the juice came on.

1-14-21