Poetry by Dorinda Wegener
THE NURSE WILL ADD A HOTLINE NUMBER TO YOUR PHONE

Sclera from Greek skleros means hard
        like time that invisible stalker, who
                follows danger or dominance 

do you get defensive
        wounds from door jams
                there is a certain type of tear

in the flesh that tattles
        trauma over clumsiness
                knuckles always tell

who got one in who
        got one back, ER docs
                are careless lovers no need

for lidocaine staples hair down
        with laceration it all scabs
                and scars over discharge with

iodine solution to flush out
        no one discusses asphyxiation
                stains I cannot make you confess

enlarged and searing white
        wide below the iris, sclera
                how close it sounds to terror

Dorinda Wegener, a 2024 Poets & Writers Magazine Get The Word Out Participant, is a Peri-Anesthesia-Certified Registered Nurse in Richmond, VA, who holds an MFA in Poetry from New England College, where she was a Joel Oppenheimer Award Recipient. Wegener’s debut book, Four Fields (THP 2024), won: Honorable Mention for the 2025 Eric Hoffman Poetry Book Award; shortlisted: 2025 Eric Hoffman Grand Book Prize; Finalist: 2025 First Horizon Poetry Book Award; and Semi-Finalist: 2025 North American Poetry Book Award. Her poems and essays can be found in LitHub, THRUSH, Mid-American Review, Indiana Review, Ethel, Hayden’s Ferry Review and Hunger Mountain. www.dorindawegener.com

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