【by Reese San Diego】

Dad is right-handed,
so when he cut open
his left, it wasn’t a problem.
He only needed one to
sew himself together.
Did the cleaning, numbing
all on his own––not sure
he even told anyone till
the stitches ran across his palm.
I’m no surgeon, but I’ve been
doing something similar.
I keep picking up the pieces.
Clean, numb, sew
myself
till the wounds
have closed.