A Long Life
Pigeon-toed
diphtheria.
Acne with
an outburst
of resentment.
Shattered knee
caps, busted
collar bone,
a head
full of
migraines.
So much
sickness &
deformity,
pneumonia mumps
scarlet fever
whopping cough
& more still.
The long
nights of
anxiety.
There’re
no reward
for such
suffering
except a
honed instinct
for survival.
Survive past
a certain
point &
you become
immune to
to cancer.
He should
have been
dead
long ago,
said the
analysts,
but there
he stands,
cleft tongue
& all.
