Friday, February 27, 2026

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

These poems are

Band Aids and gauze 

rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide 

antibiotics and spiritual flu shots 

medicine cabinets in our tongues 


We a different typuh doctor 


Open us up 

the entirety 

of our oral narcotics 

tumbles out

spills loudly

all over your decrepit spirit

clanks and clatters

against your self-hate like 

a piggy bank full

of loose change 

bouncing off your septic thoughts

dislodging them

from your hacked brain

one bittersweet sentence 

after another

 

I promise 

even if you don't love the taste

it will sedate

the heathen in you 

suppress your sabotaging symptoms


And ain't that whatchoo crave 

anyway?


Relief from the virus

you been carryin' 

your whole life

from exposure to

a contagion 

of venomous language?


Choose your method 

of healing

gone 'head

rilfe thru our selection 

take whatchoo want

use whatchoo need


You can't OD

on a poet's prescription 


Stanzas save lives

in huge proportions

the bigger quantity you ingest

the better


Spread 

The Parable

across your cumbersome 

diseased plate

triple-layer our wisdom

smear it messily 

all over your fingers 

lick them unabashedly

 

Fuck who's watchin'!

You self-medicatin' right now!


Let the message 

dissolve like capsule

slow-release through your mouth


Close your eyes 

as the lesson swan-dives

down your throat 

splashes epiphany 

across your organs

clears pathogens

from your nervous system


Breathe deeply

through its reset


Now rest


Repair


And when you open your eyes


One of us

will be by your side

with enough vaccine

to make sure

relapse 

is not

in your vocabulary 


©2026 Charlene E. Green 

  

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