appealing

The Maynard
Spring 2018

Jes Battis
0:00
 
 

Physio

Trapped in a cabaret for young foxes,
my phone and bone break free. I fall
like I read, closely, perversely, past
decency.

I remember his foot, the fracture. We
were paw-locked otters, denning. Now
it hardly glides, joint or memory. Hang
a fresh IV.

Steam from our little unroofed loves.
The morphine dreams bring back
Toronto. You feel like an unpaid
library fine, but the limb recalls
your touch.

My scar is a subway map. I remember
each stop. Ride it like an Expo Sky-
Train screeching along hopeful tracks.
Circle the neighborhoods that no
one can afford, memory’s house.

I walk back and forth along a blue
mat, holding ski poles. My therapist
calls it walking the plank. Forward
and back, it turns out, is all
there is.