My friend was hospitalized
Head injury, in a comma, hooked up to machines
Dying
Or going gently into that good night
Weighted on the human balance
For three weeks we waited
We waited for the scales to tip in his favor
But he didn’t make the weight
He was found too light
Like the doctors predicted
Three days after surgery they suggested
We pull the plug
Easy for them
But we weren’t plug pullers
We’ve been pulled over and pulled apart
Pulled prank after prank
And now we pulled our hairs
Because we never pulled plugs to breathing machines
And out of all the stunts we’ve pulled
individually
collectively
We couldn’t pull the most practical
___
J. Pharoah Doss lives in Pittsburgh. He attended Geneva College. His work as appeared
in The New Black Magazine and Gutter Eloquence Magazine.
