my body of work is a work of my body / a conspiracy

of a trillion cells wanting to dance a legacy writ in

water / paper boats with membranous margins set

afloat on the river that runs through me & becomes

me // a body is a house for two stranded snakes stuck

in eternal coupling / an account of what was heard

when the protein serpent whispered / a cheap domain

for genes to write travel blogs on // if a body is a poem

my body was written on a napkin before someone sick

sneezed into it / skin so dry it comes undone at any

scrape / face so oily the pimples might be american

troops in disguise / let's not even talk about my nose //

but a napkin is fine / when someone walks away they

also reveal what's sticking out of their pockets / when

I see the napkin I know they took the time to fold it &

keep it close to soak up the goodbye tears of bodywork

~Ajay
10/1/2021