Spring Allergies

From the collection of “Bodily Observations”

A snake slinks into my

nasal cavity, Its fangs

grind against cartilage,

venom clings to hair. 

Eyelids turn to puckered lips 

as ants march across my 

forehead. Pennies coat my

throat while the boatman

Charon paddles down 

a clotty river and falls 

into the vale between my lips

until strands of blood 

and mucus sew the canals shut.