ODE TO: children with scoliosis

I have not earned the right to know this, the after effect of standard school scoliosis testing, but neither has their parents. We’re all in the patient’s room, slightly curious. The doctor asks the kids to bend over and traces their backs, noting thoracic and lumbar curves, an iliac crest, popliteal angles… sounds like we’re talking about flower stems. And sometimes we might as well be, the child will be fine and live a normal life below a certain degree.

 But you know those young trees that may have been 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, still kicking in its misery? Those, those are the kids I have written this ode for.