The Wellness Wall
While I sat in the waiting room
anxious to be worked into the schedule,
impatience would have shown no appreciation.
A room full of people
waiting to be called
to the other side of the wellness wall.
In common was our uncertain health
and a major effort
not to show concern.
Eye messages were avoided
by heads bowed reading or staring
at a page in a 2 year old Field and Stream.
Alone with my private thoughts and concerns
prompted my lay diagnosis
of the waiting folks.
This one may be pregnant
the overweight one probably heart problems,
the limp suggests arthritis.
Time passes until the dead silence is broken
by people being called and disappearing
to the other side of the wellness wall.
From the other side of the wall
comes laughter and the gay banter
of the fit and well.
Those called move from silent worry
into a busy cheerful buzz
of clinical efficiency.
Body temperature, weight, height determined
not too different from a clerk checking groceries
as each measure is noted on a clipboard.
Led to a room where
the clothes come off
and blood pressure noted.
Being told to wait for the doctor
ends cheerful banter with the nurse
and leaving me in the cold room to read
diplomas and health flyers
Passing time does nothing to warm the room
and the mind uses
the flyers to catch every listed ailment.
A knock on the door and calm wellness
walks in and without
any sign of distress or concern
listens to the long list of ailments.
Questions and professional calm,
a written prescription,
I dress and leave.
The wellness wall has done its job
As leaving I already feel better.
Pills in hand I walk and their rattle
sounds so much like
the medicine man’s totem.
Do you suppose that all pills
are placebos and the cure
is really the wellness wall?