Yes, it's all based on a true story. Squash is a great game, but I wish I weren't so clumsy.

Marian Sairaala

The drunks are in room four,
blank faces stare at me
each time their door opens.

Let them have light & time,
then send them back out parched.

Some withered women lie
on beds along the wall.
They are dead without death,
they are their own tombstones.

My ankle isn't much.
It throbs, but I'm still young,
an accident among
these hospital dwellers.

Outside the sun's come out,
the streets shine with run off.
Soon I will hobble out,
aware at last of how
many springs I've got left.

So many beginnings,
so many sunny days.