A Poem for You: After Anchorage IV Joan Naviyuk Kane

2023-09-11T12:44:01-04:00

After Anchorage IV Joan Naviyuk Kane of gadolinium, November-veined, copper on the tongue             & summoning sleep & ether though wide-awake after click & whir & click again of excision & extraction  & artery notched & every hand in the dim back room             summoned to press the bloodied breast to bone & told to find calm & stay calm & O type O negative & calm & fuck the radiologist who would remember              the day years after, bumbling mutters    & with whiskey-thick fingers on black Friday & routine gone awry & no luck for transfusion & hours later [...]