I. 
The radiation machine
didn’t hum. The lights in the room dimmed.

Rads went through my chest
without a word.

                It took about a 

half hour
every day all summer.

 

II.

In the early universe it was light that formed
the dominant constituent, and ordinary matter played

only the role of a negligible contamination.

 

III. 

Delusions, stories 
heal, Freud said.

Believe, believe.

I dreamed 
I had another’s body

trying on a nylon dress at the mall,

the pounding heat outside
over as the cool cloth

slipped down
the narrow column of me