Peggy Heitmann

THERE’S FINE AND THEN THERE IS PARTIALLY FINE

After my breast amputation,
after the taking of the diseased flesh,

I am fine. That is what my male doctor told me,
You will be fine.

Though I wanted to snark,
And which testicle would you like to lose?

I refrained. So I will tell you,
though it was never the point,

I am fine.
Except

Except when I stand behind my husband,
and feel the hollow depression where my breast once lived.

Now bulldozer scooped away,
never-again to press my flesh into his

and feel my nipple graze
the open plane of his back.