| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Operating Room | | By John Reed |
| | From “Hospital Notes”
SUNLIGHT floods the shiny many-windowed place, | |
| Coldly glinting on flawless steel under glass, | |
| And blaring imperially on the spattered gules | |
| Where kneeling men grunt as they swab the floor. | |
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| Startled eyes of nurses swish by noiselessly, | 5 |
| Orderlies with cropped heads swagger like murderers; | |
| And three surgeons, robed and masked mysteriously, | |
| Lounge gossiping of guts, and wish it were lunch-time. | |
| |
| Beyond the porcelain door, screaming mounts crescendo— | |
| Case 4001 coming out of the ether, | 10 |
| Born again half a man, to spend his life in bed. | | | | |
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