REMOVAL

I went in for an operation
Can’t wait any longer, they said
Just has to come out

Logic whispered in my fevered ear even as
Terror turned the walls white
I yielded to an equation

my body = their agenda = my best interests

I was taken and spoken nicely to
That’s their job, after all
This passing kindness

I was soothed while the needle was given
To relax me and prepare me for the excision
I kept telling her, the one in white
How scared I was

Just as I accepted this fate, eased into it
News came that the surgeon couldn’t make it after all

I got up from the table and said to hell with this
I’ve lived this long with him inside me

Fine with me if he stays

Anne Leigh Parrish has three new titles coming soon from Unsolicited Press: What Nell Dreams, a novella & stories in November 2020; A Winter Night a novel coming March 2021; and The Moon Won’t Be Dare, a poetry chapbook due late in 2021. Previous titles are: Maggie’s Ruse; The Amendment; Women Within; By the Wayside; What Is Found, What Is Lost; Our Love Could Light The World; and All The Roads That Lead From Home.

Originally published at http://cypresspress.ca on March 23, 2020.