“Why Is a Scar on a Man…”

Why is a scar on a man a mark of distinction,

on a woman a mark of disfigurement?

I don’t know.

Why is it funny when a man loses his hair

and tragic when a woman loses hers?

I don’t know.

Could you make love to a bald, headed woman?

What will you say

when the X-Rays turn the scar

on her breast raw-

hamburger red?

When she’s bald, lost her eyebrows,

and lies closed-eyed

with a skeletal look,

will you kiss her

and tell her

she’s beautiful?

I don’t know.

What do you do

in the bedroom,

when she is thinking

of death

and she cries?

I hold her hand and I breathe.