Tale of Woe

This tale of woe, a wail of toe,
occurred to my amazement
when a not-so-crazy man demurred
his doctor's expertise with amputees
and cut his own toe off. You scoff, but
it is true, or so I'm told. The bone and tendons
weren't as much a problem, said the man,
as was the skin. The whole thing makes
my own skin crawl, creeps me out,
just thinking of it, how you'd go about
the operation. Numb with ice? You wouldn't
want to try it drunken to avoid the pain, because
you might avoid the toe itself and
cut off something else you'd rather keep.
Which begs the question: did he throw the
toe away, or stick it in the freezer to delight
(and alternately, scare) his grandkids when
he gets around to sharing his strange tale?


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014