I Know This Man

I know this man
who is studying to be a
chiropractor
but is, despite his best efforts
a sculptor

and even student loans are cheaper
in the long run
than that reality
so

he studies this bony art of adjustment
and one day he will have a practice
as his profession

but in my dream
as that first patient lays out on the table
and this fresh doctor
races his beetle fingers
across the pebbles of her spine
he pauses–

removes the wet plaster
from under the desk,
a milky statue’s tongue
lapping heavily against her skin
as he tilts the bucket:

“In a minute this will harden,”
he says,
“and then we will begin.”