effete

 

Male nurses; I guess I never

          believed in them before

Never saw one, only in the flicker

of soft-focus porn.

 

But now he’s in the flesh before me,

at the bed opposite, then one left

Tugging at the sheets

          chewing, laughing,

flicking his wrists

his hair coiffured somewhere

over the rainbow.

 

Yes he’s family, I know

but still I pray silently,

          my lips curled,

that he won’t approach me

won’t unmask me

          before the eyes

of these dying men.