Hospital at Night
March 17, 2010
the belly of a whale
throb of a great heart
heavy breathing
dark and light by turns
I drift in the sway
of a giant kelp bed
small nudges on my body
minnows nosing a hand hanging
over the side of a boat
all around me nattering sounds
high-pitched blips
that seem to have nothing to do with me
message from across the hall
You’ve never told the truth
in your whole life
Una Nichols Hynum writes, “Old fashioned, I like a book in my hands and have never submitted to on line journals before. It feels like I’m sending my poems off into the ether. But why not?”
Categories: Health
Una Nichols Hynum
qarrtsiluni 
Welcome to the ether, Una. I’ve always loved this poem and you read it beautifully.
I like this. The last two lines were a surprise; they really make the poem.
A new experience to hear you on my computer, but Una I really enjoy hearing you read your poetry in person as your presence goves evem more meaning to the poem.
The alien environment of the hospital being like a kelp bed (think of the algae-like tubes!) is brilliant, as is the whole submarine setting, and the unexpected ending. Oriana
The ending lines reinerate in a new way the reality of the circumstance and place of personhood when in a hospital. Wonderful descriptions, as with all of your poetry. Congrulatins on expanding your audience, Una! However, I agree with Mary Mueller: there is an added relationship element of entering the poem when you read before a live audience.
What a treat to hear you read in an online magazine, Una! I love the extended metaphor of your poem, especially details like “sway of a giant kelp bed” and minnows nosing.” Can’t wait to hear your next offering!
The poem, without pretense or too much “trying,” very successfully evokes the conditon of one in a hospital bed. And the close stirs the reader to thoughts of all those occasions when something heard at random seems somehow perfect.