Fourth Place: Magnetic resonance by Lyn Sedwick

It’s not likely flights of angels will sing you to your rest

Without having one, a magnetic resonance scan that is,

So you’ll hear the jungle drums (big wooden mallets 

Striking a soft skin), the machine gun rat-a-tat-patter 

(but muted, as if shooting rubber bullets),

Dice rattling in a soft cup (like a muffled trumpet) 

And the ray gun staccato zapping you from everywhere
(as if choir voices were stationed all around a church). 

It ends with the unrelenting beat of “A day in the life”—

Dumdumdumdumdumdum—woke up--dumdum-- 

Fell outta bed—dumdum--dragged a comb across my head.  

The Beatles sang me through, maybe they’ll help you too.

About the Author

Lyn is a physician in practice in Winter Park/Orlando where she has lived since the 1980s. She has been writing poetry and short fiction for almost 30 years and has found the writing community a great place to be, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic.