DRUGS Poem: THE EMBLEM, by Brendan Alpiner

And let’s not forget that hospitals,
while healing, are still a place
of violence. Subtle violence.
The bandage stings. The medicine
rips memory off bone. Syringes
kiss and needles like
to cuddle you
asleep.

But the men in this rehab are trying
to learn this violence
intimately, differently, the way a bee
only briefly mistakes a hand
for the most beautiful flower.
They believe there’s hone
inside, and give
their lives believing
so.

God bless this antiseptic anger.
God bless this hospitals blues
and pinks. And God bless
the emblem of health, the two snakes
wrapped around a staff, their tiny
penetrating fangs hidden just
out of our sight.

Author: poetryfest

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