Space Alien Ignored for 6 Hours

Well, it was close to Halloween
and he didn't look all that different
from the usual midnight rush at the ER.
I mean, just look around. On any
given Thursday, there's at least a dozen
a lot worse off. He wasn't in pieces,
or bleeding out on the floor,
and when the triage nurse got to him
he was breathing - though not the old
chest-heave-and-ho she's used to;
and she couldn't find a pulse except
in the middle of his forehead.
His complexion was rather green,
but it's yellow or blue
we worry about.

We always attend
to the most critical patients
first, and he surely didn't look
like one of those.

^

Biography

I'm a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in the California Sierra and also help my husband (a retired wildlife biologist) with his field projects. My poems have appeared online at Above Ground Testing, The Melic Review, Pif, Poetry Magazine and elsewhere. My latest book is part of the Pudding House "Greatest Hits" archiving series.