Surgery Dream (Incision)
BY DUNCAN SLAGLE
The first time I let him go down
on me, I was not telling the truth.
I didn’t praise that beige sky
reddening at the tug of blood.
I didn’t gasp or rise. I emptied
myself like a good vein & said
thank you. I meant it. What was I
supposed to say? Bait & switch
the symptom / retire my tongue.
My skull, a rattled cage, my brain
a blush engine coughing up coal.
The first time I let him see me
naked, I was no god. I shook
like bone. I lied / still as gospel.
