Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital
By Kevin Young
Praise the restless beds
Praise the beds that do not adjust
that won't lift the head to feed
or lower for shots
or blood
or raise to watch the tinny TV
Praise the hotel TV that won't quit
its murmur & holler
Praise the room service
that doesn't exist
just the slow delivery to the front desk
of cooling pizzas
& brown bags leaky
greasy & clear
Praise the vending machines
Praise the change
Praise the hot water
& the heat
or the loud cool
that helps the helpless sleep.
Praise the front desk
who knows to wake
Rm 120 when the hospital rings
Praise the silent phone
Praise the dark drawn
by thick daytime curtains
after long nights of waiting,
awake.
Praise the waiting & then praise the nothing
that's better than bad news
Praise the wakeup call
at 6 am
Praise the sleeping in
Praise the card hung on the door
like a whisper
lips pressed silent
Praise the stranger's hands
that change the sweat of sheets
Praise the checking out
Praise the going home
to beds unmade
for days
Beds that won't resurrect
or rise
that lie there like a child should
sleeping, tubeless
Praise this mess
that can be left
Copyright Credit: Kevin Young, "Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital" from Dear Darkness. Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Young. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Source: Dear Darkness (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008)