Matthew Feinstein

Radiologist

 
Spit proves useless for sniping
wildfires. Unsheathe a world,

get your move-out date.
Unsheathe a person, find

the crying child, its lesions
inflicted by lesioned child

inflicted by lesioned child
and so on. I forgot everyone is

beautiful. I’m beautiful. My eyes.
It takes an entire year to make

a Rolex. Millions, and ungodly
amounts of carnage to make

a smiling child. Think a lion’s muzzle—
kidney-deep in the antelope

who wasn’t built fast enough.
I forget I’m privileged

and breakable. Do you have insurance?
I’m getting X-rays. Come along.

We’ll get the radiographs to prove it

Matthew Feinstein is a 25-year-old neurodivergent poet from Tracy, California. He holds a BA in English - Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach, and is a candidate for the MFA in Poetry at Randolph College. He is the author of Breeds of Breath (Alien Buddha Press, 2020) and has poems in Poetry Online, Kissing Dynamite, HAD, Heavy Feather Review, and elsewhere. You can find more at matthewfeinsteinwriter.com.