Radiation

Melissa Gutierrez

“Patient advised not to bring any valuables.
They will need to be discarded.”

three days in solitary
and my gown is traded and burned

sweat it out for three days, they say
shower lots and keep away from kids
their bones can catch it like the cold

we visit Vegas ‘cause your sister has it too, mom,
the dark in different spots, worse
you say she’ll be going soon and i’ve no doubt

but cacti zoom by and I don’t focus
on the last mija she’ll call me

or what’ll happen to her fat daschund and Cheeto,
the dog i used to chase around the yard,

my eyes stay on the blur in the car window
as Susan Boyle cries me a river on the radio