{"id":17309,"date":"2021-12-01T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=17309"},"modified":"2021-11-27T21:26:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T03:26:35","slug":"trading-kidneys-with-strangers-in-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/17309","title":{"rendered":"Trading Kidneys with Strangers in Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

I swap scar stories in a bar
\n———–<\/span>with a woman over whiskey gingers,<\/p>\n

voices strain over blurred background
\n———–<\/span>noise, my sneakers stick to unwashed<\/p>\n

floor. Split lip, stovetop burn<\/em>, a knife
\n———–<\/span>slipped to the quick against damp skin. Scalpel<\/em><\/p>\n

on flesh<\/em>. We find we share twin surgical scars,
\n———–<\/span>crooked, pale crescent moons, thin as thread.<\/p>\n

We delight in the knowledge
\n———–<\/span>that our scar-sides even match\u2014left breast.<\/p>\n

Talk turns to everything shared: moon signs,
\n———–<\/span>blood types. We agree to trade kidneys<\/p>\n

for fun. At midnight I am tipsy, golden
\n———–<\/span>in love with every leaving stranger<\/p>\n

in the dim light. I say I\u2019ll meet her again
\n———–<\/span>in oncology, beneath the Y<\/em> in the sign,<\/p>\n

when tumors pop back up
\n———–<\/span>like stubborn mushrooms, inevitable<\/p>\n

in the soft clover patches of our breast tissue,
\n———–<\/span>thriving in the absence of sunlight beneath skin.<\/p>\n

We hug, plan to reunite
\n———–<\/span>in our sixties. We both say we believe in believing<\/p>\n

in optimism, so we know it won\u2019t be
\n———–<\/span>soon, skip each trip to the doctor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rebecca Poynor<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I swap scar stories in a bar ———–with a woman over whiskey gingers, voices strain over blurred background ———–noise, my sneakers stick to unwashed floor. Split lip, stovetop burn, a knife ———–slipped to the quick against damp skin. Scalpel on flesh. We find we share twin surgical scars, ———–crooked, pale crescent moons, thin as thread. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[70],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4vb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17309"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17312,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17309\/revisions\/17312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}