#poetryBreak: Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital

Birds Lifting (M.A. Reilly)

Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital

BY KEVIN YOUNG

Praise the restless beds

Praise the beds that do not adjust

     that won't lift the head to feed

     or lower for shots

     or blood

     or raise to watch the tinny TV

Praise the hotel TV that won't quit

      its murmur & holler

Praise the room service

      that doesn't exist

      just the slow delivery to the front desk

      of cooling pizzas

      & brown bags leaky

      greasy & clear

Praise the vending machines

Praise the change

Praise the hot water

& the heat

       or the loud cool

       that helps the helpless sleep.

Praise the front desk

       who knows to wake

       Rm 120 when the hospital rings

Praise the silent phone

Praise the dark drawn

       by thick daytime curtains

       after long nights of waiting,

       awake.

Praise the waiting & then praise the nothing

       that's better than bad news

Praise the wakeup call

       at 6 am

Praise the sleeping in

Praise the card hung on the door

       like a whisper

       lips pressed silent

Praise the stranger's hands

       that change the sweat of sheets

Praise the checking out

Praise the going home

       to beds unmade

       for days

Beds that won't resurrect

       or rise

that lie there like a child should

        sleeping, tubeless

Praise this mess

         that can be left

Kevin Young, "Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital" from Dear Darkness. Copyright © 2008 by Kevin Young.