poem

 The Calling

The surgeon gets lost in the case and calls for assistance. The new surgeon arrives in a jiffy. She makes the other surgeon stand in the corner while she either finds the thing that needed to be found or fixes the first mistake that led to a chain of catastrophic misperceptions. Would you like me to keep going, she asks. Yeah, go ahead, he says. She finishes up lickety-split and degloves and ungowns with a flourish. The patient goes on to become an Olympic champion. Years later the old surgeon can still be found standing there in the corner. How do you do it, they all ask. What do you mean, he says. This is what I do.  I find something I can do and I do it.  

2/16/25