Out Like a Lamb

EMG

Half my hand went numb
some time ago
and when I went for tests
the doctor joked
he'd use happy, gentle needles
and friendly electrical shocks
- an EMG - so as my arm
jerked and stung and shook,
I yelped
I called out bitch!
I warned I'd put him
in my next poem.

Perhaps I will print it,
put it in the post
and call it art,
his words and mine
comingled
the hurter and the hurt,
struggling on the page

He declared I need an operation
so he wins, I guess
and I slunk off to nurse my arm
and curse the pain
and write him into infamy.



note ▶︎

April 30—Ars poetica