Diagnostic IV

If you like me will you make me better
look at your sandbox of a screen how my
bones have ground fine like my mother’s if
I promise I come by them honestly will you
swap out my joints or— will you make me
wait and how long must I wait exactly and
what if she waited ten years until she lived
inside of a bed until she had twenty good
minutes per day and what is my prize for
enduring will I receive a larger life is there
something at the top of those stairs I can
just make out voices I can hear a woman
laughing where can I find the elevator
is that my chart in your hand what if it
says I’m too young what if I’m young but
my body lived hard if it needed medicine
for its despair if the medicine made it fat
shall I tell you I obeyed my doctors or—
will I present as combative and what if we
pretend I’m a man and what if our man
is white and what if we say he’s a good
guy shall I tell you a joke watch me walk
through your exam room will you catch
me when I climb onto your table will you
believe me when I— what number for pain
will convince you what treatment must I have
failed do you feel how loose I was made that
I’m formed of biscuit porcelain I am not the
original model they have taken my gall they
have excised my hunger they have disposed
of both with the biohazard there is no more
gut to trust I hear traffic from Mass Ave will
I one day walk to the bus stop if I’m late can I
run to catch it will I catch it before I die will
I take hikes with radiant butches will I be
better will I be known will I ever again—