42opus

is an online magazine of the literary arts.

6 September 2007 | Vol. 7, No. 3

stage one

I.

each stage marks what is to be removed.

the order of the disease begins with the uterus,

ends with the body. some women lose more than me,


the uterus, the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, it's good

he says that it was caught early enough. he speaks

with the ease that implies that the body is nothing


more complex than the limbless, trapdoored models

that decorate biology classrooms. the surgery will work

like this: he will unhinge the skin that covers my stomach,


excavate the plastic organs one by one,

placing them carefully in a row on the table until

he's