RACHEL MENNIES
M Removes a Tumor
Violet, Violet—come here and watch,
come and stand beside me in the operating
room, while I scoop the failed tissue from
the sinew, dark, a tiny furious storm tucked
between joint and muscle, snake the thread through
and through the milker’s just-made wound.
The cow, so quiet, look at her eyes. Look
at the damp tears, the fearless
tremble, the pain for only pain. Look at her
calmness, propped on her side, her ribcage
tremendous: like airbags, prepared.
Look at your flank, see there the flesh
I would have excised to keep
you whole, to keep those light eyes
fixed on mine, as I’d wield the smallest,
sharpest blade. We could dump the cell waste
in the Cape’s bent elbow, live our lives
scraped clean, healed under my wanting palms.
Rachel Mennies received her MFA in poetry from Penn State. Her poetry has appeared recently, or will soon, in Alaska Quarterly Review, Indiana Review, and DIAGRAM. (www.rachelmennies.com)