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This writing was accepted for publication in the 96 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “a Bad Influence” Down in the Dirt (v129) (the May/June 2015 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

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Follow Up

M. A. Schaffner

You can᾿t tell by looking in our faces.
For some of us the tests are just routine.
For others, of course, a sentence of death.

Brave or stupid, cowardly or aware,
more or less imaginative or astute --
strange that we should all be called a patient.

Then the friendly helpful receptionist
who shuffles and cuts evolving decks of files.
Then the corridors, buffed and vacuumed daily.

As many times as we sit and wait
for each procedure labeled as routine,
the first that isn᾿t can only mean

but one link in a chain that holds a swing
on a porch from which we watch the healthy pass.

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