Benign or Malignant
By Carey Link
I’ve memorized protocol:
Name: Carey Link
Date of Birth: 2-12-75
Last 4 of social: XXXX
Pass.
Bitter-sour
of saline hangs—
I give three vials
of O-.
Pass.
Freeze.
A new typography on the right at 1:00.
What are the shapes of its curves—signs—symbols?
I hear a crooked, homeless puzzle of half-syllables
without strings.
I play Hang Man with strangers.
Carey Link is a retired civil servant from Huntsville, Alabama. Carey is living with metastatic breast cancer. Carey has found healing and self-discovery in writing poetry. Carey’s poetry has previously appeared in Poem, The Birmingham Arts Journal, and Birmingham Poetry Review among other publications. Carey has published a chapbook titled What it Means to Climb a Tree (Finishing Line Press) and a poetry book titled Awakening to Holes in the Arc of Sun (Mule on a Ferris Wheel)