Reclamation

Reclamation 

I was a chalk outline/
traced radiation circles/
slow, cold chemo./

I woke, slept/ 
disappeared into the routine/

yet, felt the weight of your hands instructing/
my body to endure/
what should have ended it/

The question wasn't:
if you wanted me/
but if I want anything/
beyond the chalk line—
once I stepped past it?/—
the knowledge that I’ve outlived the chart/—

while still carrying the neuropathy, the pouchitis, /
the ache where the colon once lived, /
even as they pushed me toward this uneasy after…