Jackknifed
Good news, the tests have all been negative.
The doctors think the pain is nothing serious.
Bent double like the knife against my shin
I’ve come unhinged since the incident.
The doctors think the pain is nothing serious.
Sixty dollars, man. That’s all, the police said.
Unhinged since the incident, I never leave my house
Without a weapon. The screen door boxes with the wind.
Sixty dollars, man. That’s all the police said.
My son was one good looking kid, tall and slim
He left the screen door thrashing in the wind.
They cut my tall son down and stuffed his body in the trash.
My son was one good looking kid, tall and slim.
We had to close the casket. Unhinged I started hacking at
My wrists. They threw my son away like he was trash.
Good news the doctors said. The tests have all been negative.
By Gaetan Sgro
Biography
Gaetan Sgro is an internal medicine doctor, “girl dad,” and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he directs a program in the medical humanities. His poems have appeared in The Bellevue Literary Review, Glass: Poet’s Resist, Blueline, The Healing Muse, Apiary Magazine, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA, Best New Poets 2016, and other fine publications.