Surgery

& so, let me 

Take the knife 

Instead—execute 

The irreversible—sketch 

A red comma 

Across my neck—

Will the blade be 

Colder on my skin,

Or underneath it?

I will not lie 

Ever again—

I’ll extract the rats—

Mark my own 

With honesty—dig 

Eight hours for what 

Doesn’t belong—

Right-handed 

Ripping—a rushed 

Slice—spiders spill—

Breast soaked 

With newlyred silk—

Diseased nights cease. 

Skin stapled deep—

Veins left choking, gasping 

For the removed—

A snake drowning 

in sweetness—

A leaf floating back 

to the branch of a tree—

–

Livia Meneghin (she/her) is the author of Honey in My Hair and a Review Writer for GASHER. Her writing has found homes in The Academy of American Poets, BOAAT, Entropy, Tinderbox, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA at Emerson, where she teaches writing and works for EmersonWRITES.