Two Poems
Title Nineteen
Title 19 caught up with us this week
I hope Mom doesn’t have to sign
the forms
the bank statement as of the last day of the month
her birth certificate
federal penalty if error
is she too impaired to sign?
All gone, used up
the ranch, her home, the car
what’s left is pride
Her pride in money they’d put by,
her happiness to say
I could help you with that.
The money didn’t last three years
in the nursing home,
now Medicaid’s in charge.
I hope she never knows.
Feminist Protest
Medicare
Says you only need
One day in the hospital
To have your breasts cut off
And when you go home you can
Take care of the drainage tubes and bandages
Yourself.
For prostate surgery
They allow four days.
—BNB McMurry, Madison, WI
