3 Prose Poems by Howie Good
Trilogy. A Handmade Collage by Howie Good.
MRI
The worst thing about an MRI isn’t the claustrophobia. It’s the terrible racket that accompanies the claustrophobia, roughly equivalent to the combined noise of chainsaws, barking dogs, Chinese gongs, and motorcycles without mufflers. Meanwhile, the worst thing about undergoing a CT scan with contrast is a sizable bottle of radioactive dye, in original, raspberry, or lemon-lime flavors, they make you drink beforehand. A shadow on a scan can indicate the resurgence of cancer. I have about a 60 percent chance of surviving five years. Maybe you have noticed at the beach that when a wave withdraws, pinholes open in the sand. I avoid looking too closely. There’s a world hidden under the surface swarming with ghost creatures at home in the dark.
Risk-Benefit Ratio
“Want to know a fact?” my grandson asked, and without waiting for a response, added, “Bees can’t fly in the rain.” Later I looked up online if that’s true. It actually is. Even a single raindrop, I discovered, can knock a bee out of the air or damage its wings. Bees very sensibly stay in the hive when it rains. Humans rarely display such keen common sense. A half-million of us have been killed this year in wars around the world, and the year isn’t over. I for one might risk the rain to crawl inside a flower.
Cadaver Dogs
I dreamed my cancer came back worse than before. In the Netherlands, Kanker Joden, or “Cancer Jew,” is a common slur. Dodging patrols and sleeping in fields and stables, my Zayde Jake walked all the way to Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, after deserting the Austrian-Hungarian army. His older brother had been killed with a million others in the fighting on the Eastern Front. My dad worked in a slaughterhouse by the East River when he was in his teens. He counted carcasses with a clicker as they passed on a conveyor belt. It’s probably a good idea to accustom yourself to death early, like the cadaver dogs that are introduced as puppies to the distinct smell of death.
Howie Good's latest poetry collection, True Crime, was published by Sacred Parasite in 2026. His handmade collages have appeared in numerous online journals. He co-edits the journal UnLost, dedicated to found poetry.
This collection is his first appearance in The Itch.
