Leg Lengthening

by Rachel Marsom-Richmond

They push me towards the
operating room, where they
want to break my shins

down the middle. I’ll be in
a wheelchair for months,
while bone grows back slowly,

one millimeter a day,
helped by the wires and pins

sticking out of my skin.

I always stood out in a crowd
at three and a half feet tall. I
wanted to be normal for years,

but now on the stretcher, cloaked
in crispy paper, I just can’t.
I’m too afraid to grow.