ODE TO: children with scoliosis

I have not earned the right to know this, the effect of school scoliosis testing, but neither have their parents. We’re in the patient’s room, curious. The doctor asks the patient to bend over and traces their spine, noting thoracic and lumbar curves, an elevated iliac crest, popliteal angles… sounds like we’re talking about flower stems. And sometimes we might as well be; like three-leaf clovers, the child will be fine. 

 But–you know those young trees that were uprooted by a strong wind or simply brittle-born, now strapped to the earth with rocks and rope on all four sides, a gardener peeking out their blinds every morning to make sure it's still there planted in its misery? Those, those are the kids I have written this ode for.