NAPOWRIMO24: Poem 4 "I've Never Seen This Before."

"Dan Dunn, Secret Operative 48," Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, TX), August 23, 1936.

A pantoum poem is a poem where the 2nd and 4th line of each stanza, are repeated as the 1st and 3rd line of the following stanze, until you get to the end. When you get to the end, you can reuse the unused lines from the first stanza with final repeated lines. Though some people will mix it up. A work friend is going through some pretty bizarre medical stuff right now, and so it's on my mind, those of us who are unlucky enough to be interesting to doctors, and it got me thinking about the weeks leading up to losing my baby, and how many times I was told "I've never seen this before." I started writing the poem like that, but I wanted a repetition, and thought of the pantoum because I had my students write one earlier this semester. It worked strangely well. I think really I own another verse in there honeslty, but I'm trying to get to bed at a decent time tonight.

NAPOWRIMO24: Poem 4 

 "I've never seen this before." 

 I've never seen this before, 

says the doctor. 

 Woah, says the ultrasound technician.

 I'm sorry. 

 Says the doctor, 

We're going to need to run some more tests. 

 I'm sorry. 

 This is the specialist's number. 

 We're going to need to run some more tests. 

 This is quite an unusally large growth. 

 This is the specialist's number. 

 This is unprecedented. 

 This is quite an unsually large growth. 

 Do you know the percentages, the chances? 

This is unprecedented. 

 Dangerous. 

 Do you know the percentages, the chances? 

A surgery like that just isn't possible. 

 Dangerous. 

 There's nothing we can do. 

A surgery like that just isn't possible, 

either. 

There's nothing we can do. 

Insurance won't cover the safest option.

 

Either 

you wait and possibly die because 

insurance won't cover the safest option 

or you scrape together what you can to do what you don't want to. 

You wait and possibly die because 

its hard to gather that much money so fast

or you scrape togehter what you can to do what you don't want to

even if you still must wait and possibly die 

its hard to gather that much money so fast 

family and friends are miricles and angels 

even if you still must wait and possibly die 

at least you know you're loved. 

Family and friends are miricles and angels

Woah, says the ultrasound technian

at least you know you're loved. 

I've never seen this before.