Mary J. Mahoney
they wheel the old nurse in
she needs a tube replaced
the one in her gallbladder
though she says stones
work their way out
from an exit they made
a portal by her right rib
look she says
she hands me a baggie
of eight boney stones
tiger-eyed rocks
a bag of knuckles
if they were from cattle
we could sell them
Mary J. Mahoney has published poetry and prose in many literary venues, including The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Witness, Colorado Review, DoubleTake and Sentence. She is the 2019 recipient of the Anne C. Barnhill Prize for Creative Nonfiction from Longridge Review. Find her at maryjmahoney.com.
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