Influenza

all the doctors of the world
have come to your bedside
to analyze your influenza
they gather like flies at a stadium
to watch the game
discuss
concur
and shrug:
given the choice
the body chooses to remain fat
the great men rise and shake hands
promise to use the money
to study warfare on the moon
pose for photographers:
dragging their dead chickens after them
the doctors file into the street







from The Troubles (1993)