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Completely Bare: Uncensored PoetryDay #9: The Nurse
Discordant alarms
Incessantly sound
Efficient squeaky soles
Fitbits overrun by miles
Caring steps, aching backs, broken hearts
Sense workers, compassionate souls
21 st -century frontline warriors.
Colour-coded manuals now on wheels
Consistency triumphs
At what cost?
Once upon a time ….
Featherlight fingertips gauged
the pulse.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …
Conscious counting and assessing
Silent questions considered, and then posed
“Are you feeling alright”
“You are very pale”
Patient pain clocked
Subjective scales weigh
Conscious attention.
Expert care, in parallel, treats symptoms and the root
Targeted intervention
As thankful eyes relax
and breathing steadies and slows
Clenched fists release.
Conscious attention with intention
Care with compassion.
Versus
Squeaky wheels herald
The arrival of efficiency
Slow-loading data
Screen frozen
YET AGAIN.
Frustrated signs punctuate
Violent keystrokes
Esc, Esc, Esc, Esc, Esc, Esc …
Nothing.
Frustrated exasperation
Flurried glances at the ticking hands,
“What’s your name again”
Peeling alarms, drown out the voice
Her eyes dart,
Here, there,
Everywhere all at once.
Trapped in an IT maze, she hurriedly states
“My travelling brain is …
