what to buy in the gift shop

i prefer

not to visit people in hospitals.

i always

feel like

i might catch something,

that there are deadly

microbes

floating around in the air.

everyone

is injured

or sick

and lying in enormous

beds

with tubes and wires

sticking

out of them.

machines are clicking

furiously

as bored and apathetic

nurses

and doctors

rush about,

looking at their watches

hoping

to get off soon.

i stand in the gift shop

and look

around at what piece

of junk

i can buy to carry up to

the person i'm visiting.

flowers are so 

unoriginal,

maybe

this porcelain cow, or this

coffee cup

with a smiley face

on it,

or maybe a book about

the afterlife.

i prefer not to visit people

in hospitals,

and worse yet, are funerals.