Scarlet Letters
By Sharon Carter, MD

Let her cover the mark as she will,
the pang of it will be always in her heart.
–N. Hawthorne

Your are different from us
--we who glide
through our workday unfettered
by handicaps. Genetics
have been unkind,
first one illness, then another.
The body you inhabit
at war with itself.

Your face, a map
of life events--lines carved
by medication and disease;
your torso tattooed
by steroids, gastric mucosa
stripped and acid-etched.
These side effects require
additional medication,
and a time-keeping pill box.
Remedies are few, fantasies
many: a skin which begs
to be unzipped--these are the wishes
of the helpless.

At your next office visit,
the doctor consults his oracle,
but has no further suggestions.