October #2

The Past Tells Me I Exist

Those genes I sowed years ago

on hard ground

raised dragons of fire and water

who roar at the world

in ways I never could.

They spliced themselves,

and now here come the results,

helixing down the hallway

to scramble onto my morning bed

and feed me cold toast.

They shiver like cells around me

with toy trucks and jam,

insisting on under-the-blanket tents.

Meditation detaches me from the world,

and these two hot, moist little junior dracos

bring me back to it.

They make me live hard
right down to my mitochondria.

— Helen Patrice