feverish
i know they're in there
obscure indications of their presence
reverberate
like there's something rattling around
inside the empty rusty bucket of my body
feverish
i imagine micro-circuits of wee little viral invaders
bouncing with glee
as they work steadily without complaint
inside my crankshaft torso
diligently churning away at my bloodstream
thickening my blood
into a black steel mill sludge
that slowly plows its way through my capillaries
like a relentless warm glacier
creating a wet soft spongy shutdown of my brain
feverish
weaving back and forth
on the edge of the elevated curb of sleep
thoughts shapeshifting faster than
drag strip funny cars pumped up on amphetamines
sequences of syrupy questions
fueled by 104 degree temperature logic
arrive at my lips
and are deposited
upon the ears of unfortunate listeners
for instance
how the body can POSSIBLY POSSIBLY POSSIBLY manufacture so much mucus
one day of this dripping nose could fill up that big Lake Titicaca up in the
Andes
up in Peru
or is it Chile
Bolivia
maybe Bolivia
Bolivia..... they grow cocaine in
cocaine.... snorting cocaine makes your nose drip
nose drip..... nose drippings collected in Lake Titicaca must be used to water
the cocaine plants
viruses, Bolivia, cocaine, great lakes of post-nasal drip mucus
it must be a big conspiracy
a conspiracy silenced
by an icy blue washcloth applied with great precision
upon my forehead frontal cortex
feverish
oh sweet mary mother of god
my antibody army must be asleep at the wheel
in there
lazy t-cell commandos
sipping coffee
smoking
as they take their own sweet time
concocting sophisticated battle plans
to oust the shifty viral plunderers
feverish
i feel something now
antibody soldiers must be on the move
"In a late-breaking story, unnamed sources report that massive numbers
of tiny little foreign viral cell tourists are being mass deported from John Mullennix's body. Stay tuned for further news
developments."
a smile cracks the dull plaster of my face
as my white-hot aching bag of bones
cries hallelujah
and kneels
on polished stone tile
as I watch the vanquished foreign invaders spiral away
transported
down the cool arctic-white porcelain exit in the floor
as they already prepare for their next unwitting victim