Paramedics

why do paramedics arrive in slow
motion them towards you with
a blurred hand ecstatic with adrenalin

if there were such a thing
I think that angels
might appear in this same way

soft voices and bended knees
making notes on their method
latex hands

their box of tools
opening like a flower sprung
from the cold linoleum floor

and in place of gauze and tourniquet
compress and decompress
de-fib, re-sus, green whistle, blue pen

there would be forgiveness
and a measure of love
so warm

that the simple light in the hall
would feel like a hole
in the heart of everything

and everything would slow

This poem appears in

Wire Walkers