The radio plays Summer’s Greatest Hits as

The white-hot sun streams

In through the medical slats

Of the medical blinds.

The plastic surgeon has glasses

And wears a surgical cap with dog bones on it.

The best class he ever took in college was film comedy.

He has no idea how he ended up here,

Stitching up a torn ear in a room with

One window, humming along to the snappy tunes

Of summer. It just goes to show you, he tells me

Cheerfully as he dabs off some blood, that college is

Really mostly just for fun and you don’t

Really start learning about your job

Until the day you get one. I nod, wondering

Why my ear doesn’t hurt more. He looks like an

Old lady sewing a handkerchief, and I watch as

He switches out one shiny metallic tool for another.

The song changes to a song I hate and I

Wonder if I would look stupid if I wore

One gold hoop earring, like Shakespeare.

Did people think he looked cool that way?

Maybe all it did was make him look like a

Pirate, and maybe people just laughed.

Maybe he knew nothing until he wrote it down.