Displaying My Injuries (tuning a piano with a chainsaw)
by Joseph Kerschbaum


From behind his white surgical mask
the doctor says I do not bruise
properly. He commences to beat me
with a lead pipe until my fingers are broken,
until all my teeth are cracked
and shattered. I lay on the cool tile floor,
sticky with my blood. The doctor comments
that my skin still isn’t
displaying my injuries to its fullest potential.
He assures me
he will get to the bottom of this
even if he has to split my skull open.






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