Chemical review
Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, 1939
crypsis our aggressive
mimicry
(peacetime necessities)
molecules of another
sovereign selfcode
unable to deliver bare
germs direct to the lungs,
we have relied on fleas
insect escorts and their
siphoning mouthparts
our pathogenic desires
of a self-limiting epidemic
short-lived in the rainy season
*
throw the plague dead
over the castle wall
and praise the new king
The vector effect
Sverdlovsk, Russia, 1979
hanging aerosols
the fog that won’t lift
we defend
the food-borne
account of
the die-off
a line extending
from the city into
chorlinated
lime coffins
calculated contours
of constant dosage
an accident takes
some beating
to assume
form