Nothing Less Real Than Reality Poem by Chen-ou Liu

A Tanka Prose

In the dimly lit hallway, a double-shift nurse speaks to a colleague in a faltering voice, "My patients are saying there must be another reason they are sick. They ask why I have to wear all this weird ‘protective stuff.' Some of them get frustrated with my answers—they even call me names. Then they become worse and have to be intubated."

more red dots
added to the heat map...
'it's not real'
another patient's voice
scarcely above a whisper