Perspective

by Roxie Powell

One must put things in perspective
One must understand that the gaping
Hole in one’s middle
Will go away
Soon be history.

First, reaching down with
Your hands and doing what
You never could have imagined —
Pulling yourself together,
Then waiting for the arrival
Of paramedics
Who dispose of your gaping situation
With expertise and detachment.

Next you want to wash your hands
But there isn’t time
A doctor gives you an injection and you’re
Sent to surgery where somehow,
Unbeknownst
You are fixed — sewn up
And excavated.

Later you see yourself
in the mirror from a new
perspective,
one which sees what it
no longer feels.