A.J. Wright
Birmingham, Pelham, USA
Poet’s statement
I wrote “In the Waiting Room” after a visit with my mother-in-law to her doctor’s office in Colorado Springs. Passing other offices in the same complex, I noticed an unfinished puzzle on a table. “Rebecca’s doll” is a reflection on my daughter’s youthful fascination with playing “hospital” with her friends and dolls.
In the waiting room
of the cancer center
two people are working
on a jigsaw puzzle
one thousand pieces!
the box warns just
above the photo
of the finished puzzle
a ruined castle in the countryside
of a land far far away
this man and woman
are bent over the table
as if they have no doubts
unable to know just yet
how many pieces are missing
Rebecca’s doll
is receiving the best of care
from her three-year-old physician
who presses a gigantic toy thermometer
against those tiny ruby lips
and maneuvers the toy stethoscope
over a plastic chest and back
as if born to it,
finally asking tenderly,
do you need an aspirin?
does your tummy hurt?
the doll keeps smiling,
smiling as if born to it
and confident that the doctor is in,
concerned and competent
A.J. WRIGHT, MLS, is a librarian who has worked for more than 40 years at Auburn University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has published poems and articles related to medical history, Alabama history, and other topics in various journals since the late 1960s.
Highlighted in Frontispiece Volume 4, Issue 3 – Summer 2012