wildscape. literary journal

“Failure to Thrive”
by Amelia Napiorkowski

Small scraps of paper stacked
in a tent-like upside-down “V”…
am I rapid cycling?
The diagnosis, that’s right,
the constant nightmares -I can’t get to my husband I can’t get to the hospital-
The baby – he’s lost too much weight, he’s tired, something’s wrong, someone do something…
Tell me – have you ever ridden in an ambulance with your newborn?
Only you can’t see him.
You are in the passenger’s seat and the smell of gas station coffee fills the cab.
He’s in the spaceship incubator, in the back of the ICU-ed up medic,
and he doesn’t cry
not during the blood draws, catheters, feeding tubes, IVs,
not even the spinal tap.
Small scraps of paper neatly stacked
now scattered on the floor.

about the author // Amelia Napiorkowski