Jill Michelle

The Long Goodnight

Jill Michelle

for Diana Dad wakes up, has forgotten where he is, what’s happened. A daughter on each side of the slim, white bed, telling why he can’t rip the IV needle out, relieve its throbbing pinch. We hold his hands, remind him, he’s in hospital, has fallen.

A daughter on each side of the slim, white bed, telling why but he doesn’t understand, has become a toddler again, so we hold his hands, remind him, he’s in hospital, has fallen try to pry him from Alzheimer’s grip, explain it to him

but he doesn’t understand, has become a toddler again, so each time he drifts back from his sea of sleep, we restart try to pry him from Alzheimer’s grip, explain it to him. Please, we know it hurts, but the doctor says you need it.

Each time he drifts back from his sea of sleep, we restart— he can’t rip the IV needle out, relieve its throbbing pinch. Please, we know it hurts, but the doctor says you need it. Dad wakes up, has forgotten where he is, what’s happened.

Jill Michelle's latest poems appear/are forthcoming in DMQ Review, Eclectica Magazine, Gyroscope Review, Bacopa Literary Review and Drunk Monkeys. Recent anthology credits include The Book of Bad Betties (Bad Betty Press, UK) and Words from the Brink (Arachne Press Limited, UK). She teaches at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Find more of her work at byjillmichelle.com.