1. a clean bill of health
the doctor told me
to roll onto my side
i asked if we could
get to know each other first
she said we’d already
met twice
which is what happens
when you get old
you start forgetting the faces
of people who’ve seen
your asshole
she pulled on a glove
with the casual professionalism
of a woman preparing
to check the oil
in a honda civic
“just relax,“ she said
i thought about baseball
the price of groceries
whether my first wife
was still alive
“looks fine,“ she said
i almost cried
i’d gone my whole life
waiting for someone
with a medical degree
to look at any part of me
and say that
on the way home
i stopped for pancakes
my asshole had earned them
although technically
it hadn’t done
a goddamn thing
which made two of us