you say when you are sick you get treats
I type while you talk and you say I bet
you’re writing about chickens and when

you look at the screen you say people call
anything a poem these days you need smooth
silk to coat a sore throat silence is borderline

death when next I need a doctor to peek inside
my nose with light I wonder what she’ll see
stuffed inside after I blow snot into dead trees

I too shall combat that system of escape
with corporate desires as in how much ice
cream we need our nuggets a false meat

equivalent to blood pressure levels crashing
waves with bongos of beating hearts that turn
harmonic within four walls of Wendy’s

(originally published in Magnolia Review, Summer 2020)