In the ICU Waiting Room

Three girls, dressed in red flannel
Coates & slick blue jeans sit at a
table across from me.

Playing uno & talking about their
Celebrity crushes.

Who’s fucking who in the music
World, You Tube Stars, while two floors above
husbands are being are being operated on for
cancer growths.

In another section of the hospital,
My wife is having a very sensitive
procedure done to remove all her
malignant organs.

This conversation is none
of my fucking business but frankly—
I found it lewd.

Dan Provost’s poetry has been published both online and in print since 1993. He is the author of 17 books/ chapbooks, including Getting Your Bell Rung released by Luchador Press, in June 2025. Notes From the Other Side of the Bed was published by A Thin Slice of Anxiety Press also in 2025. His work has been nominated for The Best of the Net three times, and he has read his poetry throughout the United States. He lives in Keene, New Hampshire with his wife Laura, and dog Bella.