This poem is called "After Minor Surgery."
And I read it at a reading that had
a question session after it.
And one of the questions--
I told them they could ask me anything.
But what they wanted to know is what the minor surgery was
and that I refused to divulge.
"After Minor Surgery."
This is the dress rehearsal when the body like a constant lover
flirts for the first time with faithlessness,
when the body like a passenger on a long journey hears
the conductor call out the name of the first stop,
when the body in all its fear and cunning makes promises
to me it knows it cannot keep.