Hilary Sideris

PHLEBOTOMY

The new nurse flails & fails to get the needle
in my arm. She blames my veins, she claims
 
they move around. Do I have hemochromatosis,
as my doctor suspects, excess iron in my system,
 
turning liver & heart dark? Will clots break off,
block my bloodstream? I lived in a building
 
whose cornice cracked—a chunk fell seven stories,
killed an infant on the sidewalk bench in her
 
grandmother’s arms. Her parents lived next door.
They broke their lease, moved to Connecticut,
 
clean snow, white slate. Together? Apart?
Another jab, the needle’s in, but now my sluggish
 
blood, too thick, she says—I didn’t hydrate—
won’t flow into her tube. Her words wake me
 
at three AM & when I dream, I am
the grandmother, unscathed & doomed to live.

HILARY SIDERIS is the author of the poetry collections Calliope, Liberty Laundry, Animals in English, The Silent B, Un Amore Veloce, The Inclination to Make Waves, and Most Likely to Die. She is a co-founder and curriculum developer for CUNY Start, a college preparatory program at CUNY, and a co-host of the Carmine Street Metrics reading series in NYC.