Ode to a diagnosis

Who are your favorite poets? Answer clinically 

Scrub in before you touch me 

Harrison went to conversion therapy 

and you and I don’t speak 

Tell me about the surgery: 

Did it fix the incessant sclerosis 

of two queer girls who first kissed 

under the bridge at track practice? 

O, indulge me – What is the diagnosis? 

Do they have treatment or medicine for it yet? 

Is there a biological component? 

Nerve/nervous breakdown – What is the best 

way to diagnose the antithetical poet, 

absent of both blame and innocence? 

What is my sickness? 

I should’ve told you what I wanted 

An ode to a diagnosis 

Take me apart and view my living structure 

as if I am a marvel of architecture 

Vivisect me like a rat – Be sure 

of what you see; Do not wonder 

about anything excised 

If it is gone, do not ask why 

Scrub in before you try 

and comb through my insides 

Who are your favorite poets? O, tell me 

what bit of my organs you are most excited to see during the surgery 

Will you steal any part of my body?

About the Author

Riley James Russo is a teenaged author split between Ohio and Pennsylvania. Their first novel, Good Dinner, is available on Amazon now.