amputate affected limb
visit apothecary
administer correct dose
Josepha Gutelius
one shapeless sprawl        grey silent
without end        no omens of mis-
adventure

no warnings
to beware

as life
as humanly here        begins:

a lit door opens without a sound
and you        a pint-sized probing scout go forth impatient
to consume the air        you have the dignity of rareness        oh you have never felt so naked

it won't hurt        whatever they take from you
(you don't even think to ask for mercy)

and will you miss the smell of the garden
and will you want the colors of home
poor alien?        name!birthplace!family!
what roots that clutch
do not signify multiple
frailty?

now now now your cries clack between jaws
mechanically after-the-fact        unseeingly
you act      with all the wrong verbs        poor sucker stuck to props that are longer
here

cues hissing        warning of
mis-
step        over and over            (the throngs shouting less, less! instead of more, more)
and the glitter
comes spattering down...
rhyme it:
tell
well
bell and fell        and so on        so much
to be known
hell        sell        yell
and so forth
so much        so much
oh memory me
more
yee!
purely purge thy dross
BORN