TRAGIC Poem: The Hospital, by Angelica Tao

Her mom called the hospital.
They let her in, although it was past full.
But they would find a way to get her inside.
They told her it would be nice (they lied.)

Why would this place be filled to the brim?
When not everyone is here on a whim?
Her mom had called ahead.
She needed help, but got the shot instead.

She couldn’t have left at any time.
Even when every thought is becoming like slime.
The clock on the wall makes her crazy.
But when they took it down, the words got even more hazy…

You get an injection on day one.
There is a fenced in yard, but no room to run.
Yet, she found a path to trace the halls.
While they denied her phone calls.

Day three comes around.
Without a sound.
Except her troubled grumblings.
And the floor rumblings.

She thought the shots were no good.
But now she wants to go back to her own neighborhood.
Without an injection on this horrible day.
There is nothing to keep them at bay.

Day ten.
Feeling lost in this play pen.
The fence is not as scary as it used to be.
The vending machine yells at me.

The hospital let her in 12 days before.
Group therapy is a bit of a chore.
But now the tension is no longer there.
She sleeps sometimes, and her roommate does care.

The roommate left two days ago.
There’s nothing out there in the snow.
Her parents left her a while back.
She laughed as she chewed on a generic snack.

Do my parents love me anymore?
I like to sleep on the floor.
Three weeks ago…
I think those memories will be the last to go.