Ten inches of snow accumulate

with low temperatures like

some Arctic escapade the night

before Ken is scheduled to have

his catheter removed.

 

The flight of the dutiful son

who had arranged to accompany

him has been cancelled due to

the snowstorm so Neil is stuck

at home in Texas, and there are

no Australian relatives in Chicago

to drive Ken to his appointment

carrying his urine drainage bag.

 

Then a deus ex machina

floats down

from the seventeenth floor

of our apartment building:

the nice Irish guy e-mails,

If I can do anything to help

after the operation…

 

Ken is at the curb at nine

the next morning as his neighbor

suggests, to drive together

the few blocks from Lake Shore

Drive to Northwestern Hospital

where the snow has been removed

for personnel as well as for patients

who are scheduled to have

their catheters removed.

 

Jan Ball

Jan’s three chapbooks and first full-length poetry book, I Wanted To Dance With My Father, were published by Finishing Line Press. Besides the books, Jan has had 325 poems published or accepted in journals in the U.S., Australia, UK, Canada, Czech Republic, India and Ireland in journals like; Atlanta Review, Chiron, Main Street Rag, and Phoebe. Her poem, “Not Sharing at Yoshu” has just been nominated for the Pushcart by Orbis, Great Britain, 2020. Jan and her husband travel a lot but like to cook for friends when they are home in Chicago.

 

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