the va on st. paddies day
The VA
Horay Horay
it’s st. paddies day at the VA
The baby boom defined it’s self on not wanting to go to war. Others could go, blacks, poor, politicaly indiferent, just not them. The VA hospital is OHSU’s retarded older brother. It decays next to the expanding glass OHSU campus. It looms heavy in my mind. I have many memories of it and I’ll tell you why I think of it today.
Christmas I was taking the Max east out of down town. I was drinking Hornitos from the bottle I had stole a few hours earlier from my terrible job. I was thinking about death and looking out the window. I think about death a lot because my body is giving up. An older black lady sat across from me and looked out the window. As it was christmass, I offered her a drink. This is what she said:
“Thank you no. I just came from heaven. I collapsed about a week ago and they took me to the hospital. The VA. The big one on the hill. The body knows when it’s time, and mine told me, say good bye, Fran. So I said good bye to everyone. The paramedic, the nurse, the dr. the social worker. They put me in a room. You see it was an eletrolyte imballance. I got confused and din’t take my medication. My drinks. I was just getting around to saying goodbye to myself. I didn’t know what time it was. what day it was. But I thought of all the things I’ve done and seen. All the people in my life. I’m seventy two, so I’ve seen a few faces. I remember a lot of them too. I remember Vanport. The city that flooded out. I remember the five and dime, the irish boys playing base ball in the field. I remember them because they ignored us. They didn’t beat us, or hassle us like places we had to move to after the flood. I remember the cruel faces too. I remember Portland before the sky scrapers. I worked at Meir and Frank in the basement cafe for twenty years. A lot of faces there. “
We were headed over the broadway bridge by now. She was in a trance telling her story.
“Nobody came to see me. I was done. I was about to say goodbye to my self. The nurse came in then. She said, ‘Mrs Fran, would you like me to open the window?’ She opened the blinds. There was the city in the night laying there like somebody spilled their jewlry box. All the lights, boats on the river, the interstate reflecting the Willamette. It was so quiet and beautiful. I just looked at that all night. This Christmas morning they gave me a doggy bag to go, you know for the shakes. Pills and such. I just came from heaven. So I’m an angel”
Now it’s St. Paddies day. Nathen is in the VA. Alcoholic seizures on this national day of inebriation. Lets see which heven he goes to. I’m getting drunk now, friends. Angels come form the VA.
Yes I’ve been to heaven
Nathen and I did meth behind the 7-11
Horay Horay
it’s st. paddies day at the VA
The baby boom defined it’s self on not wanting to go to war. Others could go, blacks, poor, politicaly indiferent, just not them. The VA hospital is OHSU’s retarded older brother. It decays next to the expanding glass OHSU campus. It looms heavy in my mind. I have many memories of it and I’ll tell you why I think of it today.
Christmas I was taking the Max east out of down town. I was drinking Hornitos from the bottle I had stole a few hours earlier from my terrible job. I was thinking about death and looking out the window. I think about death a lot because my body is giving up. An older black lady sat across from me and looked out the window. As it was christmass, I offered her a drink. This is what she said:
“Thank you no. I just came from heaven. I collapsed about a week ago and they took me to the hospital. The VA. The big one on the hill. The body knows when it’s time, and mine told me, say good bye, Fran. So I said good bye to everyone. The paramedic, the nurse, the dr. the social worker. They put me in a room. You see it was an eletrolyte imballance. I got confused and din’t take my medication. My drinks. I was just getting around to saying goodbye to myself. I didn’t know what time it was. what day it was. But I thought of all the things I’ve done and seen. All the people in my life. I’m seventy two, so I’ve seen a few faces. I remember a lot of them too. I remember Vanport. The city that flooded out. I remember the five and dime, the irish boys playing base ball in the field. I remember them because they ignored us. They didn’t beat us, or hassle us like places we had to move to after the flood. I remember the cruel faces too. I remember Portland before the sky scrapers. I worked at Meir and Frank in the basement cafe for twenty years. A lot of faces there. “
We were headed over the broadway bridge by now. She was in a trance telling her story.
“Nobody came to see me. I was done. I was about to say goodbye to my self. The nurse came in then. She said, ‘Mrs Fran, would you like me to open the window?’ She opened the blinds. There was the city in the night laying there like somebody spilled their jewlry box. All the lights, boats on the river, the interstate reflecting the Willamette. It was so quiet and beautiful. I just looked at that all night. This Christmas morning they gave me a doggy bag to go, you know for the shakes. Pills and such. I just came from heaven. So I’m an angel”
Now it’s St. Paddies day. Nathen is in the VA. Alcoholic seizures on this national day of inebriation. Lets see which heven he goes to. I’m getting drunk now, friends. Angels come form the VA.
Yes I’ve been to heaven
Nathen and I did meth behind the 7-11
posted by Bloodnock at 10:59 AM
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