A pleasant morning at the dentist's - Long-awaited trip to the Wawa - Poem: Diabetes vs Mom's Brownies

Talk to me, I asked Dr Joe Venneri on the right, while you're drilling that bottom tooth, in order to distract me.

I have a high pain tolerance so I rarely get novocaine. 

Dr Joe and his assistant, Shea, talked about many things. Shea is pregnant and mentioned that Decaf Coffee is not good for you b/c it contains chemicals. Read more here.

Hence, I am sipping on Hazelnut Coffee from the Wawa right now. 

Dr Joe got a tie rack from his kids for Xmas, "even though I don't wear ties," he said. 

"Sell it on Craigslist," I said, with my mouth wide open and a wad of cotton on the side.

I just sold this watering can. Was asking $25 but one Don Durkin offered me $20.

Fine, I said.

I told Dr Joe and Shea I have the people come out to the house and have been raped six times so far.

The buyers never come into the house.

I met Durkin on the front porch. He loved the watering can and will use it, he said, since his plastic cans all break.

Also for sale for ONLY five dollars is

Don't need it since I've bought my perfect Chemex coffeemaker.

After the dentist appt, I drove to the nearest Wawa on County Line Road to use my gift card from the incomparable Teresa Forstater.

What a fabulous gift.

Since last I was there, they put in a Wawa gas station.

The parking is horrible.

It's the last time I will go there. Instead, I'll frequent the Hatboro Wawa.

My sister Donna just called. She said "It's the worst Wawa. I'll never go there again."

Here are my purchases. The coffee is delicious. Caffeine does not keep me awake. Last night I had no caffeine, stayed up until 2 doing my writing, and then couldn't fall asleep until 4 am.

Am within an hour of finishing the suspenseful Nightlife by Thomas Perry. Discovered I can read it while riding my stationery bike.

Are you watching Downton Abbey?

I watch it though it doesn't thrill me.

I cannot stand Lady Mary's voice.

Took a bus trip to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, where the costumes were displayed.

David A Kime produces Transcendent Visions the way we do our Compass. His, however, is only poetry and short prose pieces.

He used three of my poems. I'd forgotten I'd written them. They were quite good.

At the Master's Feet was about the first time I met poet Christopher Bursk.

Was up typing a thank-you letter to David Kime and sending him three poems for 2016.

Had to compose a poem on the spot to send him. What dyou think?

DIABETES VERSUS MOM’S BROWNIES

No, it’s not in the family

no, I’m not overweight

no, I don’t drink soda or eat Tastykakes.

It was the lithium that did it

ruined my kidneys

those impeccable filters

that keep our insides clean

Up on the table at Einstein

out like a mummy,

my daughter Sarah’s kidney was

funneled into my belly

Urine now, pure as a

Michelob on Tap, but

something unforeseen

happens: my prednisone

and Prograf, transplant meds,

block secretion of insulin.

I am now a person with diabetes

whose drug of choice

is a needle filled with crystal-clear

tear-drops of insulin

the poet cries silently

for herself, drawing blood

ten times a day, injecting in

belly, upper arm, tush and thigh

Mom, a baker all her life, has

found at ninety-two a new recipe

for brownies. “Which do you want?”

she asks, standing over her brood.

“A corner one or one from the middle?”

“Both, please,” I say from the table.

“And a dollop of whipped cream with

Kahlua.”

I go into the dining room, where,

unseen and burning with minor shame

I inject another ten units.

What we don’t see is a cup of

granulated sugar circulating in my

blood stream, somersaulting,

catapulting, doing cartwheels of

joy.

Off come the toes

then the feet

the eyes grow blind

the mind slows

and everything goes

It’s worth it! I shout.

It’s worth it, for

mother’s new

brownies.