Type 2

When I wake, this is what I tell myself:
          I belong to this, to all the ghosts present
 
in the DNA. Diabetes,
          an ancient Greek consort, sweeps through the halls
 
of my body. It seems the proper gift
          from my father, memory locked down in the cells
 
of my bladder. Frequent urination
          is a hard nag to beat. My body
 
is my father's complaint. He rings at two
          in the morning. A piss in the pot, a shot
 
in the dark. He's never too far away.
 

Copyright Credit: Sjohnna McCray, "Type 2" from Rapture. Copyright © 2016 by Sjohnna McCray.  Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press, www.graywolfpress.org.
 
Source: Rapture (Graywolf Press, 2016)