Beans (A Poem for Organ Donation)

Beans

Because they fail to work properly on their own

A catheter was inserted into her abdomen

For easy access to the machine she uses daily

To help her kidneys balance the minerals that flow

In and out of her blood stream

The process is intricately connected to her fluid and food-intake

As well as the money she makes

The support she has from friends and fam

That worries about the fragility visible in her face

As she recants tales of fighting her landlord

Who doesn’t care about her handicap placard

Or the government that sits on the hill counting kidney transplants,

Comparing them to dollars and cents

As if they were beans in a jar

For years she’s struggled with doctors

Trying to make sense of the disease they cannot fully explain

- It causes swelling, bone loss, brain damage, and severe joint pain

She was taken off the transplant list, put back on… then taken off again

No one understands the agony she’s in

Not even I – her sister-friend

Although weak from frustration, mineral imbalance, and poverty

She writes letters to congress, speaks at rallies, and talks to anyone willing to listen

To God she prays for a kidney that works

As hard as she does to make life meaningful and whole

Like two kidney beans in concert

It is for KH that I write

In hopes that others will get to know the miracle of organ donation

And know that life…your life amounts to more than a hill of beans…

Holly Tomlin

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