Tell Us, Doctor, How This Goes
By Marda Messick
A quadrant and quality of pain.
A twisting ache, a stab, a swelling.
Order scans and spin the blood.
Enlarge the shadows on the screen.
The origin site is unknown. How far,
Already. Lodged in bone.
Tumors infest like nesting rats.
Feed them poison. Kill them fast.
An algorithm names the thing.
Multiply odds. Divide by none.
The protocol, a ruthless mercy.
Tell us truth. Say how long.
Marda Messick is a poet, former nurse, pastor, and caregiver living in Tallahassee, Florida. She holds an MDiv from United Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia and a BSN from Western Carolina University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Christian Century, Literary Mama, Poetic Medicine, Speckled Trout Review, and Delmarva Review.