poem of the day 01.23.15

it was simple

it was simple

it was so simple

we went to pittsburgh for the weekend

and i did the poetry reading

in front of a bunch of old farts

we got drunk on beer with old friends

simple

so very simple

and when we got back to brooklyn

you did the mammogram again

sure, last time it came up dense

but they’ve come up dense before

that was back in february

it’s june now

that’s four months but who’s counting?

we had shit to do

family and drinking and london

poetry readings in pittsburgh

what’s a dense mammogram reading

when you’re under forty anyway?

it was simple

so goddamned simple

you go in

you do your bit

they do theirs

and then they send you on your way

with a clean bill of health

it’s was elementary i tell you

yet there you are on the phone

telling me that they found something

there you are telling me that there has to be a biopsy

and there i am

hanging on to the phone like a life vest

in the middle of the work office

surrounded by my same bullshit

when suddenly

everything seems so foreign

everything blurs

it’s my breath

the sound of your trembling voice

someone waiting to speak

simple, i said

this was supposed to be so simple.

                                                                        06.19.14