CASPER
THE FRIENDLY GHOST
The girl with a pair of pickled eyes
gets fresh ones, filling Ramona's with tears
when her bandaged child agrees to sit,
eat a spoonful of Jell-O, and grope
her way to the toilet without a nurse.
But napping after lunch (with mother
dozing in a chair) the girl spots her
donor's face. And tugging at the sockets
of his tarnished, hollow gaze, two gulls.
The girl screams. A passing nurse
pages the doctor, who reassures the mother
such fabulous dreams ('a common side effect
of morphine') will pass as Kim recovers.
Pillow-propped, crowded by animals,
the patient turns her blindfold stare
from parking lot to doctor:
'Each better place is next to nothing,' she said.
'The difference is both hard and clear.'
gets fresh ones, filling Ramona's with tears
when her bandaged child agrees to sit,
eat a spoonful of Jell-O, and grope
her way to the toilet without a nurse.
But napping after lunch (with mother
dozing in a chair) the girl spots her
donor's face. And tugging at the sockets
of his tarnished, hollow gaze, two gulls.
The girl screams. A passing nurse
pages the doctor, who reassures the mother
such fabulous dreams ('a common side effect
of morphine') will pass as Kim recovers.
Pillow-propped, crowded by animals,
the patient turns her blindfold stare
from parking lot to doctor:
'Each better place is next to nothing,' she said.
'The difference is both hard and clear.'