Poem: Match Day

Match Day

My calves ache and I race up the hill.
Feeling like my toes are hitting
rungs of a ladder, my heels never touching.
Today is deceptive. From the window
of my apartment, I saw blue but
out here everything is black and white.
As if my eyes cut corners, left out
color rendering to save time.
A shower of floaters greet me.

Today is Match Day. Among us
it has more significance than the holidays
we forget--Valentine's, Memorial Day--
ranking just below Christmas
and other holidays where hospitals
are devoid of students. Today
we find out where we will spend
the rest of our training
and in our mind the rest of our lives.

I dreamt that last night. Right now,
my mind is a slate. Write on me Fate.
Between two buildings:
clinic and Starbucks
a promissory of light
leaves an aftertaste on my eyelids.
I am lucky to skirt that municipal bus.
Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa
and MUNI buses are the most dangerous buses here.

Of all the days to be hit by a MUNI bus
or almost hit by a MUNI bus
today is one in which I am thankful
not resentful.