Member-only story
Endometriosis
A Poem
I was only ten
The first time I remember
Getting stabbed.
My agony pierced the air
With a sickening scream.
My mom barreled down the hall,
Just as the knife seemed to vanish.
Minutes into me explaining
This random phantom pain,
It struck, so suddenly,
Same as before.
My shriek struck her face
Before either of us realized
I was crumbling to the floor.
Only a decade on this earth
And I felt at death’s door;
Worried faces rushing
Me into emergency rooms
Where there is endless waiting;
Nothing seems remotely urgent
To the late-night workers.
The nurse made me drink
Medicine colored lavender,
Smelling of paste;
I’ve never liked the taste
Of a hospital stay.
They didn’t find appendicitis,
Smiled,
And sent me on my way.
I woke up to sheets soaked in blood.
Months and months,
Years and years;
No one told me
Your body should not be
Maimed by your monthly.
