All right, we're going in order.
That makes it easy.
So a port is basically for chemotherapy.
For certain kinds of chemotherapy,
instead of giving you an IV, they
will actually put a pump that goes directly through your aorta
into your heart.
And that is because the chemotherapy,
some chemotherapies are so toxic to your body,
they basically fry your veins as they go to your heart.
So your aorta is big enough to be able to withstand that.
And is there anything else?
No.
"On the Morning of the Port Surgery."
And this is the first step for some of us
in our cancer treatments.
So this was my first step in cancer treatment.
"Before dawn, I walk outside
The clock.
I strip and fold
My clothes into a bag, surrender
My braid.
I'm wheeled into
The operating theater
For the opening act of what
Will become a defining role--
Cancer Patient, Stage 3.
O feather-headed mongrel
My pickled flea-bit heart
Thrice sword-stabbed
Please keep beating.
Ungraceful, the heart boinks--
Drugged, suspended, spider webbed--"