you came home with blue/black bruises
and band-aids up your arms.
since you've gotten old
since your pear form is now
a potatoe,
since you've lost
definition in your limbs,
the nurses can never find
your veins
on the first try.
i look at my own arms
my one bruise, from many such pricks.
one spot the needle enters
one place the sting resides.
my blue veins are dependable
visible and strong.
i can follow them with my finger, like
a child readying for a
expedition.
a faint blue river on a map,
from elbow
to wrist.
