The prompt at NaPoWriMo was to write a poem using words you hate. This covers a wide spectrum from one part of my life. I miss you, Jeff. Love, Amer
Panel from the Memory Project
Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP)
Prone on the steel-back chair.
Probed straight down the gullet.
Cysts and rancid breath emerge
as he lay stupefied.
He will awaken and count the hours.
Tick, tock, curse the clock.
Swabs grabbed cultures.
Petrie dishes cook up the fetid truth:
He has it.
He has full-blown AIDS.
It is 1985.
He is 32.
Tick. tock, curse the clock.
Skeletal soon enough, too soon.
Patches of scabs peel off his scalp.
Bactrin on every sink so that
if he barfs, bleeds, or brays
we can wash it off.
Tick, tock, curse the clock.
© 2011 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Also posted at Writer’s Island (Day 28) and Poets United.
Sharp Little Pencil 
Sherry Blue Sky
Oh so sad, Amy. A truly horrible way to die. I have seen it, when I worked in hospitals. You wrote a good poem in his memory.
Sharp Little Pencil
Remember the fluorescent pink and orange “Blood and Body Fluid Precautions” signs? Once sterile procedures were introduced for ALL patients, hospital-induced illnesses greatly declines… God love you for working in hospitals, Sherry. That’s really a calling. Amy
Debbie
Crying. Thank you for sharing this, for sharing so much of you in your poems.
Sharp Little Pencil
I cried while I wrote it, too. Thanks, Debbie. A
Tilly Bud
So sad. Thank goodness treatment is now available.
Sharp Little Pencil
True, although that’s hard, because too many young folks think, “There are drugs, so it’s not so bad.” Truth is, the drugs are to toxic that, as my friend who just turned 60 said, “If age doesn’t get me, the damned cocktail will.” Amy
Elizabeth
Heartbreaking… x
Sharp Little Pencil
Ain’t it just? But they wanted words we hate, right? A
Buddah Moskowitz
My heart gos out to you and him. Well done, Ameleh.
-Brother Mosk
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, honey. It’s hard to love with a truly open heart in this world. The vulnerability on both sides, so hard to handle. Love, your sis, A.
Mary
You captured the tragedy of AIDS well, Amy. So many dead so early. Tick, tock, curse the clock indeed! I enjoyed writing with you this month.
Sharp Little Pencil
Same here, Mary. Quite the ride! Amy
siubhan
You paint a moving picture, showing truth even at its ugliest. Brava.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thank you for visiting and for posting such a wonderful compliment. Thank you, and thanks from my friend Jeff, may he rest in peace. Amy