Photo by Pawel Czerwinski
Diagnosis Cancer
Denise Sedman
Your lymph nodes
are on fire, a hotbed
of radicals, pinkish tinged
knotted like a string of pearls
Nacreous and iridescent
on your right tonsil,
like a blister pearl tumor,
and a spoiled lymph node
have an iron grip
You need a mass dissection,
slash in your neck,
a switchback loop
then stitch you shut
Tomorrow we’ll
talk about
mortality rates
Denise Sedman
Your lymph nodes
are on fire, a hotbed
of radicals, pinkish tinged
knotted like a string of pearls
Nacreous and iridescent
on your right tonsil,
like a blister pearl tumor,
and a spoiled lymph node
have an iron grip
You need a mass dissection,
slash in your neck,
a switchback loop
then stitch you shut
Tomorrow we’ll
talk about
mortality rates