​​Peanut
 
First came the itch,
then hives, her nose
 
doubling, tongue
swelling, throat blocked​
 
like a tunnel suddenly
filled with water.
 
What a long road
from flower to factory
 
to the medics rushing in
with syringes, oxygen,
 
strapping down
that body I forged
 
in mine, months
sleepwalking through
 
the universal design
and all its possibilities
 
for error. Where I find
nutrients, her cells
 
sense contagion,
commence a nuclear option,
 
a misunderstanding
spiraling, where
 
everyone is as innocent
as they are guilty.


Published in Southern Poetry Review