SCAR
by Beth Pardue


A simple day,
Procedures planned, my name
On a dry erase board, people in motion
Preparation at hand for the division of spoiled from pure.

The day was early
When I arrived
In that place-sterile, succinct, surrounded
By slices of time, moments that alter.
My tendency of breath shallow
An inclination of anxiety
Then there's a twist of fluid through the wrist-
No dreams, no darkness, no feeling of separation of skin.

Under.

Suddenly awake-A change in body
A cut made-these objects-a cyst, an ovary, an appendix-
removed from me.
Marking remains on the surface.
Marking remains beneath.
Residual, lingering
Burnt into belly.
This mark-my reminder for all the following days

That a torso was torn before a creation made-
Holding onto vibrancy, vitality
Remembering I've been reassembled.






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