poem

Op Note IV

The pain came on like a shark attack and wouldn’t release it’s grip.  She was writhing in the ER.  We advised surgical exploration.  She gave a panting, wild eyed consent.  But when we opened her up, everything was in its right place.  The liver unfurled itself beneath the diaphragm like a majestic manta ray undulating through depths of ocean.  The spleen swelled with purplish turgidity. Bowels squirmed with restless unscripted life like anemones.  Curtains of yellow fat glistened under the glare of the OR lights like kelp.  Everything was perfectly fine.  We shouldn’t be here, is what we were all thinking.  Another virgin ecosystem unnecessarily violated. This was a breach. Pain is the most private of experiences. It’s can’t always be cut out. The ocean is enormous and vast. No one ever knows what lurks in its deep shadows. We dragged her in to shore and waited for her to breathe again on this white beach.

10/10/21