Pink Ball

Peter Mladinic

Something happened with my shoulder.

I was asleep, next thing I knew

I was down on the floor,

trying to get the pit off the cocker-poodle

who was screaming.

My upper back burned from the effort.

Now my right shoulder …it’s an effort

to put on my hoodie.

If it keeps aching, I’ll see Talissa,

my nurse practitioner, and maybe

get an X-ray. Surgery? I hope not.

But you’ve got your own problems.

Maybe you’re a father whose little son’s

pink ball rolled down the opening

of a sewer grate. You tell him you’ll

get him a new ball, but he wants that one,

and he’s crying, and you’re both

looking down to where the ball went.