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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “Carpool” Down in the Dirt, v149 (the September 2017 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the book Negative Space (the 2017 poetry, flash fiction & art collection anthology)		get the 298 page poem, flash fiction & art collection anthology as a 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

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Waiting Room Mathematics

John Grey

I count them:
three coughs, a runny nose,
and one man in a wheelchair
breathing from an oxygen tank.
A young woman enters,
her condition not immediately obvious,
I give her the benefit of a baby
maybe seven months from now.
An old couple nervously hold hands
in the shadow of the fish tank.
Whatever one has, the other
will willingly share.
A young boy plays on the floor with blocks.
He’s suffering from childhood I expect,
that stage where life itself is the sickness
and a standard disease or two is the cure.
For a half hour or so,
these people are not their jobs,
their loves, their family.
They’re strictly what they suffer from.
They’re inhaler refills,
anti-depressant prescriptions,
twinges in the shoulder,
knees that hurt to put pressure on.
I’m acid reflux by the way,
for as long as I’m here waiting.

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