Emergency 21h00 - 04h30

21h10

this is a waiting room where
the drinking fountain is broken

the television
unfortunately not

a boy says
chanson de merde
I nod

in the toilet
no hand soap

I just sit here
have they forgotten me

or are you busy dying

23h00

the slope full of gravel
keeps haunting me

I cycled as fast as I could
first downhill
then up again

because
where were you

past the bend
I saw cars by the roadside
only then your legs

I no longer know
if they trembled

what I do still know
is that for the first time
I called you darling

you couldn’t hear me anyway

00h10

fighting against the fluorescent light
under which your beautiful head
lies powerless

on a hair tie
that presses unexpectedly hard

I hold the paper meant for insurance
above your bruised eye

when does the doctor come

02h15

there was
an argument at the scan, you say
there
is a tube, I say
there an oxygen hose

the windows are closed
the walls white

remember
people who seem fine
suddenly doze off
then still twitch
forget
who sits beside them

I close my eyes and say
a little plant wouldn’t be out of place here

03h30

On a dit que nous aurions avoir de nouvelle vite
I tell a nurse
who, shuffling,
saves three lives every night
je sais, she says,
c’était moi qui l’ai dit

04h00

again you have to pee again

your hand grips the tray
with the red button
that we hold off pressing
for as long as we can