Voices of the ICU

Grab me with one hand and throw me

Across your doorway, let my hooks rattle,

Let my neat hem hide the suffering

Like a shared blindfold to all who pass,

Stitched so that pain may be private.

Let my creaseless self transform from sheet

To new love, guardian of your solitude,

Keeper of most vulnerable vulnerability,

Woven wall of moralistic thread,

Thou shall not share thy body with the world.

I am fabled, sharp and hollow,

Disposable, efficient, evil,

Wanting so to be inside you, …