Narcan

by Eric Forsbergh

It looks appealing
dressed up as a nasal spray.
Designed in white, a little rocket ship
with a tip that, all the way,
reaches to the inside corner of the eye.

Harmless.  Anyone can pocket it.
I bought it just to carry down
cracked and potted streets of anywhere.

Me,
nothing but a passerby.
You,
lying like a deer hit at the side of the road.
Or on a sidewalk,
collapsed like a mattress in a dump.

Lungs suffocating.
Retinas like pinholes.

If I can’t jostle you awake
I’ll root it up your nose and squeeze.
911, and all the wailing.
Why wouldn’t I,
after what I see
our local medics do ?

I’d like to get just one day back
with no one left for dead outside the wire.