Trans

Secrets

Secrets Teach me, they say, the women with childbirth three months behind them, one with a dead baby and tears the other come an hour down the highway to find her car towed, her shirt front wet with milk, and no money in her pocket. Teach me, says Ruth, whose secret is identity, pale face but she a blooded Sioux. And Amy,muscular dystrophy, who says no, you can't, when she doesn't show up for class. Teach me, says the toe leaking blood under the nail, Teach me, says the rigid carapace, solid, sealed on all sides so the pulse amplifies, stirs as currents of fire in the toe. Teach me, babbles the darning needle or the drill in its pan of water burning over, settling on the stove. And myjob, to scald, bore, hold steady under the light, the singe, the push, the steady pressure, eyes open, the flash, the bubbleof blood, the maroon gush, the icyrelief. Teach me, says the hole in the nail, tiny, a door, and around it, rust, mold, acrid release of what's sealed, a tender probe to open, to hurt. 23 ...