Sonder

By Jonathan Gennaro

In the hospital, the man waited.
He waited for the results of his lover’s procedure.
Sweat dripping and knee jumping he learned nothing.
All secrets stayed hidden on the other side of the door.
Nurses, patients and doctors passed him paying no mind.
They held no relevance in this story, but who are we to decide?
Every thought was secret behind their minds.
Hopes and fears intermingled,
Creating the new and killing the old with a single thought.
They held stories of their own.
Maybe it held relevance to the answer the man was so eager to know.
But who knows.
Nothing was apparent except for a soul, flickering in hollow chests.
But as they pass by, it left.
Hundreds of souls burned the whole hospital to the ground,
Leaving only compassion to work even harder on the weak of health.
But one soul sat,
The man’s soul.
He waited as his sweat dripped and his knee jumped.
While another was born on the other side of the door,
 Their gender was the only secret that hid within the room.

Jonathan Gennaro is a recent graduate of Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He just received his Bachelors of Arts with a Major in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. He will be a Teaching Assistant in France starting in October.