Jim Tilley

Medieval

She came into the bedroom after getting off
the phone with our neighbor and said,
“It’s medieval how they’re treating her,
pure torture,” and I said, “I don’t think they’re
still relying on bloodletting to adjust the
balance of black bile in the body, are they?”
“But what they’re doing to her is barbaric,”
she said. “It’s not truly primal, is it?” I asked,
“You know, with all of modern medicine
at her disposal.” “It’s torture,” she repeated,
“and that’s medieval.” “We have come a long
way from the dark ages in treating cancer,”
I said, not realizing this was not a matter of
lexicological precision, but a plea for emotional
support for someone experiencing the pain
of a close friend, our conversation quickly
devolving, as usual, into an argument about
my always needing to be right, I missing
the point, once again, that it doesn’t matter
that I am. In the most important way, I’m not.

Jim Tilley has published four full-length collections of poetry and a novel with Red Hen Press. His short memoir, The Elegant Solution, was published as a Ploughshares Solo. Five of his poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His most recent poetry collection, Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe: New & Selected Poems, was published in June 2024. His new collection, When Godot Arrived, appears this year.