An hour on the bus
moving from affluence
to slum
to middleclass
Witnessing lives
as they run to catch up
chat with the driver.
I sit, the longest rider
watching for the hospital
always
my ultimate destination.
“Have a good one,”
the smiling moustached driver quips.
Thanks.
Time for waiting,
chipper medical assistants,
brusque receptionists,
keen residents,
and bloodwork, always bloodwork.
Time to witness frowns, uncertainty
and leave
bereft again.
For long-term bandaids
fester
do not heal.
Take the bus home now.
Hold your sadness
in
as the bus route of life
makes stops
near the Flying Noodle House
passes Hope
and many stops
in between.

Kendra Gaede is a writer and photographer living in Winnipeg. She was diagnosed with Lupus SLE in 2006.

This article first appeared in Geez magazine Issue 33, Spring 2014, Disability and Ableism.