Repeat Infection


ugliness

stochastic

retro-
viral (con-

genital--

sudden creeping
unhurried (bloom)

waking
to it

waking to
the throb
of it

the watery softness
of it the

ruddy stink
of it (I am compelled

to pick at these sores
I must

worry at these weeping
sores press my dirty nail transfixed
into these sudden abscesses measure
this nausea sample
the straw-yellow of it

with my index finger with my
swollen tongue ashen papillae
inflammation fever capture
this version of
putrefaction
sniff this abattoir)

stand naked at the mirror
touch stare touch stare touch stare
fondle stare remember the squirming
dreamtime dry heave

try
to predict the
pattern of
scarring

(downwind
dogs
will raise their hackles)

--castrate
me)



JDP 97/08


Copyright John D Porter © 1997

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