Mrs. Garcia
Mark O'Brien
2420 Dwight Way, #1
Berkeley, CA 94704
(415) 841-6463
| I swear Garcia was a crazy bitch; | |
| A nurse who liked to test my character | |
| By swinging me about in the Hoyer lift | |
| With just enough abandon to scare me good, | |
| Just carefully enough so she could say: | |
| "Now what was all the yelling about? | |
| I didn't hurt your feet. You're in the chair. | |
| You polios are screamers, always were." | |
| Exhausted by the terrors of the ride, | |
| The turnings and the dips, I didn't say | |
| A word in my defense. She'd push me down | |
| To Occupational Therapy, where I'd type | |
| My skinny novel, think about revenge. | |
| Marlene, tall, red-headed nurse, told me | |
| "Garcia likes the way you scream. It gives | |
| Her an excuse to hate and show the ward | |
| How skilled she is. The hollering you do | |
| Relives to boringness of working here." | |
| Perceiving this, I tried to keep myself | |
| As silent as a Charlie Chaplin flick | |
| As I went through my next Garcia lift. | |
| It was a scary trip, as usual. | |
| I felt an urge to make some sound, but sounds | |
| That wouldn't make her mad, and so I said, | |
| "Rutabagas! Rutabagas!" "What?" | |
| She asked and laughed a bit. "You've finally flipped." | |
| "What's the price of rutabagas now?" | |
| "I don't know. I hate the nasty things." | |
| I had deprived Garcia of her fun. | |
| It was a small revenge. |
January, 1982
About this text
Courtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, Calif., 94720-6000; http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0x0n9824&brand=oac4
Title: From Mark O'Brien Papers: Mrs. Garcia
By: O'Brien, Mark
Date: January, 1982 (issued)
Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, Calif., 94720-6000; http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
Copyright Note: Copyright status unknown. Some materials in these collections may be - protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the - reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted - by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and - publicity rights, licensing agreements, and/or trademark rights. - Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond - that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the - copyright owners. To the extent that restrictions other than copyright - apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable - rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining - permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Courtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, Calif., 94720-6000; http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0x0n9824&brand=oac4
Title: From Mark O'Brien Papers: Mrs. Garcia
By: O'Brien, Mark
Date: January, 1982 (issued)
Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, Calif., 94720-6000; http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
Copyright Note: Copyright status unknown. Some materials in these collections may be - protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the - reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted - by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and - publicity rights, licensing agreements, and/or trademark rights. - Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond - that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the - copyright owners. To the extent that restrictions other than copyright - apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable - rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining - permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.