I turned over ever rock

Uprooted every tree

Unearthed every bug that slithered up

my palm

Letting them crawl into

my arm

Eating their way through

until they overflowed out

my mouth

Searching for something that filled

me

the way many men had

Out of them

Now sliding and dripping inside

me

like a hungry tape worm

You exterminated these bugs

Sprayed your pesticides deep inside me

Killing insidious residue

Without harming me

Maybe I was already dead, and you healed me.

Maybe I didn’t know I was alive until you showed me//

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RACHEL KISER