Mastectomy, Simple

Bellevue Literary Review 2021

 

I never expected to feel the cool drink running

so close to my skin, just under my newly sutured

chest, my heart side now genderless and tender—

 

to love my flat chest, so much like the one I had at 13,

skateboarding in t-shirts without a bra. Never expected

to notice my right nipple, how it still becomes hard—

 

a lonely pleasure like that of an only child. 

Never expected to forsake the idea 

of a matched set, how someone could rest their head

 

on my left chest, tuck in like a baby to its father,

hear the oscillation of my heartbeat, just beneath

the surface, resonant fountain, chamber music.