Medical Oneups(wo)manship

My nose bursts
bloody
like it does once
a day.

I'm pinching it closed
you're mocking my
already accented accent:

Aie cahn't wash ndishes
nlike dis, eh.

I remind you
I am not Canadian.

Eh?

When you first saw
my bloody news
and asked

what the fuck
happen to you?

I made up some
crap line about spilling
blood like words
from an open heart
wound; being powerless
in the face of words;
using my mind to fight
and earning the perpetual
bleed like a red badge
of courage.

How's that badge now,
bleeder?

you remind me.

And
you remind me

when we walk
down the block
for your treatment
     like we do
     once a day.





          When you get stuck
          you don't bleed
          you wait
          for the medicine
          to make you sick.