Double Mastectomy by Alex Bortell
I am meant to stay in motion. Crude like a shark is perpetual.
Double Mastectomy
My mother and I open the womb of Lake Michigan. I am meant to stay in motion. Crude like a shark is perpetual. Freshwater carries me to whomever casts first. A trout or krill, I catch between a stranger's teeth. Pothole hidden, he gravels me. Petoskey in his fist. We fit synthetic. My mother fears becoming a man. Breastless, I fear learning to swim.
1
First published in Mississippi Review, 2025.
What an opening--"the open womb." Had to look up Pelofsky, the biggest city in Michigan. Not sure I spelled it right. The images are sharp, terrifying. How such disparate images come together in the poet and reader's mind to produce feelings for relationship and quiet horror. So glad to have read it.
This is beautiful