The story that ends
with knee pain
begins,
she is saying,
with her sister-in-law
last Tuesday
or was it Wednesday
her trip to Acton
or was it Stow?
I know the story will end
with her knee pain,
she has told me so,
know she will say very three times
before the word sore.
My mother would say very
just once before sore
but with intense conviction,
her eyes blinking italics.
I miss her,
but I cannot think about that
nor the email I just read
from my daughter
who wrote how awesome I was
for something I had done,
(the first time I'd loved that word).
I miss her too,
as this patient
continues the story
that will end with knee pain.
And as I think
of what prescription to write,
which X-ray to order,
I remember 10 years ago
at Disney, my daughter,
scraping her knee, crying,
till a big cartoon rabbit
gave her a hug
and then we went on a ride and
I covered her eyes
so she would laugh,
so that the only thing she would see
was the scribbly and perfect sound
of that laughter.
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