---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN#/ ISBN# issue/book “Night in the City” cc&d, v311 (the July 2021 issue) Order the 6"x9" paperback book:

Order this writing in the book What If the cc&d May-August 2021 magazine issues collection book		get the 426 page May-August 2021 cc&d magazine 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

Three Seconds without Dr. John

M.C. Rydel

Admitted to some hospital as a patient,
The Doctor’s irregular heartbeat’s
Seen as routine for the emergency room.
Stop his heart. Let it start itself again.
Let the pain rattle around a lobe in his brain.
Send him back home. A doctor.

John is glad he’s not in his hospital.
The story of palpitations while running,
How he’s in the ER during a pandemic
Instead of delivering Spring babies,
How they took him to the ICU
Where they saved him intravenously.

It would be around his hospital
Like a virus – like a rumor – ever mutating.
The dose of adenosine, like a spike
Deep into the Achilles tendon,
Pierces his heart with a momentary death –
Three seconds without Dr. John.

Rip the soul right out of his chest
And let it see what it cannot have,
A square in Paris where lovers sip
Wine and eat, where a parrot,
Green with hints of red and blue, sits in a window
And watches the pedestrian parade.

His soul sees what most of us picture what Paris
Ought to look like. The cobblestone streets.
A bistro. A small grocery store. Artists. Motorcycles.
Green vines climbing to a blue roof.
Montmartre. A taxi to the hill in the 18th arrondissement.
Dark eyed boys and girls staring at each other.

No one sees Dr. John.
He’s gone as quickly as he came.
The half-life of adenosine is ten seconds.
The release papers already printed.
His wife gets custody. The wheelchair’s there.
She takes him back home where it’s safe.

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...