Phlebotomists at the Claremont blood bank

When I received my 5 gallon pin in the mail
I was afraid to put it on my 1 pint (?) hat
Some folks are not allowed to donate
So why would I show off something like that
I show my arms off each time
After the Red Cross Rapid Pass®
A detailed questionnaire involving
What I can only imagine are quite possibly
Insulting questions about a person’s identity or activities

A good winter for me is not the singer Bon Iver
It’s a bon hiver where I have provided some life
To an elder or maybe a baby
It’s a good river where the phlebotomist I like
Makes eyes at me and hits my vein
Without touching the walls
And the blood falls into the needle
Like I’m a purple Niagara Falls 
I tried to summon this veteran each time 
(cuz he fixed us with his tiny rictus)
But I know there are rookies too 
And if they graze my walls
It’ll be harder to squeeze the ball
In my hand which feels fatigued
By the end, and so then 
These bags of blood placed into cardboard buckets
Get shipped off for testing and resting
In laboratories before it’s time to do their best and
Provide someone a chance at healing

But back to the singer Bon Iver
What was Justin Vernon referring to 
When they wondered looking at the bags
“If any of the colors matched 
any of the names they knew on the tags”
What colors...the white platelets or plasma vs
the deep purple double red cells or whole blood 
And what tags, just which names were missing
Who might be fond of more than kissing
When will we collect all of our brothers
Our a-gender peeps who have been othered
And yet are very responsible
in taking care of our Mother
Earth and all of its bodies 
and rivers and veins
Cause I bet there's folk 
that have been taking names
And signatures of change 
on firm clipboards

At my quarterly blood drive on Claremont Avenue
The snacks on the way out were ample
But the stats on the way out
Said there was a dearth
of donors.