lakeview hospital

i remember that day
when the bulls drafted
joakim noah.

you just had surgery
and i chain smoked
cigarettes in the parking garage,
of that hospital,
somewhere,
on the northside
of chicago.

the radio station said
that he wore a seersucker suit.

they cut you open right in the middle.

i did not know
what to believe.

i remember the nurse,
joking
about something that i cannot even remember,
i don't know,
but i had a feeling
that you'd still be alive.

your room overlooked
a million skyscrapers
and i sat in that chair
as you rambled on
about the flowers
and the previous visitors
that could never comprehend
clairvoyancy.