phantom

they tell him the foot is gone
the left one
and most of the shin

he's not feeling lucky yet
but he smiles

the morphine smile
a little piece of one
floating free from a bag a nurse delivers

ramirez and carter
caught the same round
and flew home flag-draped

and stillman and gone-t
are stuck in the dad
post-traum he bets

his left foot is gone
his eyes confirm it

but uncanny's the word
for the shadow that remembers the member:

its blistery ache back in basic
the cool high school tension of tendon
on bone
the soft pleasant pang in his arch

those ghost piggies wiggle

that good ole left foot

shit

its more there than his right one