His Colonoscopy

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Daddy, the search turned up nothing this time inside of you.
They went in like FBI agents wearing latex gloves
and found nothing that shouldn't have been there.
You were old but clean inside, pink and sparkling.
Only daddy in there. Pristine as random tears.

The search turned up nothing this time inside of you, daddy.
Public Enemy Number One, the Big C, stayed
beautifully away. He did not show up
like an obsessed killer at the scene of the crime
eager to see the effects of his own handiwork.
Public Enemy Number one !!, we did not wait for you
outside of the Biograph Theatre clutching our radiation guns 
to shoot you down.
Why bother? It is better if you never show. It is always better
if you do not exist.

The search turned up nothing this time, daddy.
This time zero meant victory,
glorious nada, no Big C in the big sea
of your insides.
We sent up prayers of thanks like fervent honest balloons.
We sent up prayers clean and wondrous as if the entire
planet were discovered to be disease-free.


© Lamont Palmer

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