inci sion

“stick…burn” the surgeon warned/as he injected yellow fluid into the hand

the local numbing agent acted quickly

an incision was made and spreaders made of it/a pair of conjoined parentheses

the surgeon deftly sliced compartmental tissue/that had impeded nerve transmission

soon he was satisfied with the loose weave/of the tissue

bound the parentheses back into a line/with internal stitches that were flesh-entombed

and two strips of surgical tape were crisscrossed over the cut

and gauze and an ace bandage completed the wrapture

.

nine days later here we are/and on the hand is a rorschach test of sorts

you may see a petroglyph of a coyote/or the trickster himself

it could be a pond in winter/or an ideogram meaning “desolation”

or a bridge or pier

but the patient sees “slow healing”/and reminds himself

to be a patient patient