day ONE THOUSAND and SEVENTY SIX

Prison nurse number 17

After working
3rd shift
at the
prison on
New Years eve
with 4
drunken admissions
one inmate
extraction and
everybody bitching
about working
the holiday
I drove
through a
huge snowstorm
to a
party my
family attended
and spent
the night at
as I
walked up
to the
window I
saw my
kids asleep
and all
my friends
on every
couch and
chair I
should have
knocked and
woken them
as planned

instead I
drove home
and spent
the morning
in a
scalding shower
trying to
wash the
stink of
my life
and that
prison
out of
my skin.

--Matt Borczon