MRI
People aren’t interested anymore
in what I have to say
so I’ve learned to shut up;
I sit quietly like I’m no one,
like all the degenerative processes
have settled in my head, in my brain,
and it keeps getting smaller.
Last week I went for an MRI.
They asked if I wanted it with or without
contrast, and I asked, “What is the difference?”
but the technicians were not sure,
so I said, “If there is no difference in the price
I’ll take it both ways,” and that was the way
they did it. Afterwards they stood around
and marveled at what they saw.
They were not really sure what it meant,
but that either it was different
or that the machine was broken.
I said it was the noisiest test
I’ve ever had and they replied
that everyone says that
and that therefore they pay no attention
to such comments.
Anyway I asked them, “How is it different?”
but they told me that that wasn’t their job,
that it was up to the doctors
Then they gave me a copy on a disc
I could play on my computer
when I got home.
It was all garbled, and I could not
tell one end from the other, and the report
from the hospital doctors said the same thing,
that was the word they used, that my brain
was all garbled, and I would have to live with it.