Anatomy Lesson
by Jessica Forest

This is my arm
I hurt it when I
jumped across a creek
and fell.

You cannot jump across a creek,
neither can I.

This is my shoulder,
hurt while I tried to buy
a train ticket.

I cannot buy a train ticket.

This is my shirt.
It was dirtied as a shirt
is dirtied when
its wearer meets an
incoherent, violent yearning.

Look at my eye,
it went missing as I was
leaving the theatre.

I am not allowed to see.