POETRY
“After Being Discharged from the Hospital … ,” read by Marisa Jade.
After Being Discharged from the Hospital, I Get a Surprise in the Mail
Seven days of work missed
& I’m in the hospital
I ask my mother to dye my hair black for my birthday
but I am cursed instead
cursed with the blessing of blindness & ugliness
was it a curse? & if so, who?
who gave it to me?
was it for me?
*
One night, I stay the night at the
Lehigh Regional Medical Center
& I’m gifted with a visitation
a visitation from my grandmother
who gently placed a red rosary above my head
asking God to bless me with better sight (insight?)
later that night
I ask for prayers
I receive prayers from my father
in my sleep
I receive prayers from my grandmother
I receive prayers from my aunts
I receive prayers from God
yet my eye shuts tighter
were they half-hearted?
*
Though God does not present me with a vision (this time)
he presents me with written text
the kind that does not need ink or paper
yet still has the same sharp stinging effect as a serpent’s tongue
All my beloved companions
the ones that live so closely to my heart
yet live so far away
call me ugly
call my mother’s eggs rotten
call my deformity terrible
“Hey, rash face”
my boss told me at work today
If I am cursed
then I shall pass it on to these vipers
To name themToadstool
To name themHollywood Undead
To name themHorse’s Hart
They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
but I cannot see
*
I flip open John 9:25 & I am reminded of the story of
Jesus & the blind man:
“I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied.
“But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”
*
On Saturday morning
I was awakened by my mother
who spent the night with me
& brought me McDonald’s breakfast
I was gifted with another visitation
one from one of the nurses Rebekah
& another from Dr. Saba
Dr. Saba remarks,
“Oh my gosh, you can see me with both of your eyes!”
I laugh
Later that morning
I am discharged from the hospital
so I give the staff members a proper goodbye
I bless the Lehigh Regional Medical Center with a farewell
I thank the nurses for taking care of me
I thank the doctors for their wonderful hospitality &
I thank God for staying by my (bed)side throughout it all
A voice rings in my brain
Was it my own?
Jesus?
God?
It rang:
“I was once blind, but now I can see!”
I wrote that down on the whiteboard
where I wrote many blessings“May God be with you all!
God bless you all!”
*
The Wednesday after being discharged
was the day I received my blessing
a thank you note from the hospital
It read:
“We hope you are feeling better after your hospital stay.
It was an honor to care for you & our goal is to
always provide you with exceptional care.”
An honor?
Marisa Jade is a recent graduate from Florida SouthWestern State College. She aspires to become an independent self-published author. Her works have recently appeared in Livina Press, The Chamber Magazine, & Heart of Flesh. You can find her in real life with her nose stuck in a book or on Instagram (@mj__poems) where she channels many voices through storytelling.
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Photo: Sculpture “Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus” by Johann Heinrich Stöver, 1861. St John’s Church, Erbach, Rheingau, Hesse, Germany. Marion Halft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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