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