Venipuncture

tw: needles

"Now is the time to look away."

Turning my head to the right

introduces me to my neighbor

and I wordlessly acknowledge her

the similarities in the way

we've piled our hair on our head

and the clothes we both wear

I wonder if she also left the bed

to leave the house, and if like me

she'll crawl back into it

when this is all over

Turning my head to the left

introduces me to the needle in my arm

that's usually hidden with gauze

by the time I return to center

so I don't normally memorize

the angle that it sits in my vein

or the gauge of its hollow body

one tube inside of another, 

this strange, warm river inside of me

with life and death on either bank