32
Medias Fackin Res

The white LED-lit windowless room
was full of physiotherapists:
three face specialists were angling in,
arms arranging cheek, eyebrow, eyes:
feeling through his skin
to the mortal porcelain
as Nando lay — a body with a broken head —
on the cold, stainless bed.

You will see Fernando, and you will play.
But you will need to wear this.
The medic moved over to a corner,
working in the artificial shadow,
opened a hard plastic casket
and pulled out a black mask.
They didn't need to ask
if it fit.