Poetry by Sally Burnette

treating a burn

                                  “...we ensure that we are providing a foundation built off of mutual respect.
                                  Therefore, we expect everyone involved in the program...to treat others
                                  as they would want to be treated to help uphold this ideology.”
                                  -About Us, Youth Care Residential Treatment Center

she came from wilderness in north carolina
with a bandage around her left forearm
said she’d passed out during solo onto her little stove

*
we gathered each morning to watch the nurse
change the seeping dressing of her wound
it kinda looks like pizza

with the cheese peeled off we’d say
& staff would say
to mind our own business

*
she slept in the bed next to mine
& refused to get up for maybe a week

all day she’d weave her bloodied sheets
around her into a pointless chrysalis

staff told us we were not to talk to her
i snuck a packet of soy nuts & left it by her head

her glasses perched on the bedpost unused

*
her mother flew in from oregon
& made staff take her to the hospital
& i cleaned up the strawberry smoothie

& partially-dissolved vicodin
she’d puked onto the closed lid of our toilet
i rinsed off the pill

& took it

*
awhile after her graft we were outside
passing a soccer ball back & forth & it popped up
& she blocked with the injured arm & a precise oval

of pus stuck to it & staff picked it up
hands protected by a walmart bag & threw it
over the fence into a mormon tea shrub

they told her to go sit & wait
for the nurse & they told me to go
& get another ball

& i did

​


consequences

SAO: sexually acting out

you // the offender // have been caught // engaging in deviant sexually-motivated behavior // this may or
may not include // physical contact with another resident or therapist or staff member // excessive
emotional attachment to other residents or therapists or staff members // administering a high-five without
permission // singing along to “i kissed a girl”

YZ: yellow zone

you will lose all earned privileges // including access to your own clothing // you will be searched // & given
complimentary sweatpants // with three droplets of blood on the inside of the waistband // & a faded piss
mark on the right leg // you will be confined // to the unit

CMR: communication restriction

you may not engage // in any form of communication // individual therapy sessions will cease // once daily
// if behaving // you will join your other offending peers // to complete the allotted hour of recreational
therapy // staff will play a vhs of sweatin’ to the oldies // & you will perform every hop & slide & sashay in
silence // facing that bubbly troupe of middle-aged women // most of whom are probably by now obese
again // or bedridden  // ♫you would cry too //  if it happened to you… // you will sweat // to the oldies

IF: individual focus

you will be moved // to an unoccupied room // & you will sit at the desk & reflect // & swallow the
medicine you are prescribed // & you won’t fall asleep // or make eye contact through the tiny window in
the door // or cover your face // or hide your hands // you will slip a scrap of paper into the hall //
begging in pencil // to use the toilet // but you won’t open your mouth // you will stare at the white wall //
you will say nothing // of course // you are nothing

​​

Bio: sally burnette currently lives in Boston. their poems have appeared most recently in BOAAT, Calamus Journal, Sixth Finch, and Yes, Poetry. tweets @dunebuggy12.

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