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Moon Face
The side effects of prednisone include mood swings, rounding of the face, sensation of spinning, thin, shiny skin, and poor wound healing. -About.com
The doctor clicks his pen and says it's just a phase. My fat moon-face comes second to the x-rays
he pulls from a folder labeled with my room number. I'm taking 75mgs of Prednisone a day. It's summer,
and I'm paler than I've ever been. Lookin' good, the doctor says, by which I think he means: you could
look worse. Here in room 208, I've come to love men who tell the truth, who touch me without gloves,
and let me skimp on barium. My x-ray tech this afternoon wasn't one. He looked at me as if peering through
a telescope and, I, the cold and distant satellite, moved quietly into his crosshairs. Hold tight!
he said. I waited for him to let me breathe again. Released and back at home, I drift into the kitchen.
I'm scarred and white and wide, but never full. I try to sleep. I think: my life is one big compromise while counting sacrificial sheep.
One night I cup two dozen pills inside my palms, close my eyes, and think of swallowing them all.
Instead, I eat two sandwiches. Outside, on the night's thin skin, A white bruise grows, then shrinks, then blooms again.
Celeste Lipkes
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:hi:
RL
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