Waiting Room Zoo
©1993 Susan Noyes Anderson
I’m in the doctor’s waiting room.
My mom is counting sheep.
The music they play here could put
an elephant to sleep.
They’ve wallpapered with animals.
This place looks like the zoo!
Do they think they can fool kids with
a kangaroo or two?
A doctor is a doctor, right?
A shot is still a shot.
And I don’t care how many kinds
of animals they’ve got.
The nurse speaks baby talk to me.
(She thinks I’m half my age.)
You’d think I was a lion being
coaxed into my cage.
“Doctor is ready now,” she coos.
“Come in, lamb, you’ll be fine.”
(Yeah, sure. And that’s a needle from
a friendly porcupine!)
