My jaws unlocked to welcome
the rigidity of steel, surgical, exposing
the uvula between the tonsils,
a soft stalactite to an explorer of caves,
you have my approval to enter.

The contortion of an acrobat,
fingertips onto tiptoes, the roundness
of awe, a surprise, the oh of lips
when jilted, a jolt on thin bones, I have
volunteered my mouth for a probe.

You dig my trachea deeper
to inflate, the insistence of an avid
archaeologist who knows dirt,
leaving a rubber hose I cannot retch,
the slime of a lubricant, silicone.

I glance right below, a scope,
the eye of an astronomer who explores
inflammations, the air from sacs,
the tiny planets in my lungs, the stars
dead, all dark inside but heaves.