70spoems/useless
ALL ACTION IS USELESS
Six times
in half as many hours
she has run
to the bathroom.
Her small frame
tightening,
her description:
the backbone bending up
through the heart
and lungs.
In twenty-to-thirty
minute intervals,
making rest
impossible.
We abandon tea
for five doses
of patent medicine.
All action is useless.
The vomiting stops
when it is ready.
8/2/79