MS Nocturne with Fuse, Crosshairs, and Irreparable Fissure
my brain’s a dirty bomb
lashed with lightning
a series of losses
my doctor makes
no promises
yet I cleave to
a needle skimming
not puncturing
just a needle and
not a fuse
a malcontent } a sycamore
with lesions } my future
scried on a readout } the atlas
of my body } fissuring
my right eye } crosshaired
yes } I can still feel
my footsole } not numb yet
if the insurance } holds out
some pills } a few MRIs a year
and if I’m careful } no detonation
Emily Rose Cole is the author of a chapbook, Love & a Loaded Gun, from Minerva Rising Press. She has received awards from Jabberwock Review, Winning Writers, Philadelphia Stories, and the Academy of American Poets. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Best New Poets 2018, Spoon River Poetry Review, The Pinch, and Southern Indiana Review, among others. She holds an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is a PhD candidate in Poetry and Disability Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
