body burden: a moving target

bone, tendon, muscle, joint inflamed

knuckle, wrinkle, nail, ten half moons

a seven-pound skin, well distributed

so light i don’t feel what i carry

rashes, scars, bruises, faint scratches

eczema reminds

fragile barrier, easily broken

inner oozes out, itchy lymph

fluids that came from

swallowed water

that came from

a river that came from a lake

that came from a glacier

receding from industrial glare

pulse quickens

shoulder tenses

sorrow deepens

send signals down spine

fourteen facial bones adapt

mandible stretches, maw yawns

eyes float in moist sockets

while body sweats

& sweats, porous

ongoing experiment

rich in nurdles

poor in ecological literacy

atrazine in your armpits?

pcbs in your pelvic core?

furans in your feet?

dioxins in your diaphragm?

cells burst a chorus

a need for reprieve

iron, carbon, nitrogen flow

oscillate, oxidize, optimize

cellular symphony

perennially sheds, regenerates

walking mineral body

a watery deposit

chemical composition

shared with the pacific

kuroshio current within

dark salt, sunlit

benthic bowels

a family forest of microfauna

digesting come what may

but thyroid’s receptors confused

by polycylic pollution

getting mixed signals

hyper or hypo

as plasticizers slide into

sulfur, magnesium, phosphates

calcium carbonate

an orchestra of nutrients

infiltrated by capital’s loud shout

consumed while consuming

disoriented in proprioceptive profusion

seepage from decomposing bottle not just

plastic but democracy degrading

inner monster muscles up

as daily toxins come & go

a revolving door

heads & shoulders

knees & toes

nose & mouth