Take a breath and hold it. Now release.
The programmed voice gave me precise instructions
while the trained technician hid herself
behind a thickened wall and leaden shield.
Stretched at length upon a plastic sled,
I stiffened, half-undressed beneath a sheet
as the whirling gadget opened up
what was hidden deep below the skin
like a misdirected envelope
stuffed with pornographic photographs.
What would these ghostly images reveal?
The cause my kidneys had for weeping blood?
The random drift of wounded molecules?
A darkened wave in ebb and flow inside?
Did they photograph the cage of birds
breaking wings against my frightened heart?
Or could it image how the patient self
awaited what was possible bad news?
The technician clothed in white and with a mask
looked like an angel as we labored together.
The winding purr of magnets made me calm.
And I have nothing left to be afraid of.