Gestation

I
It extends its tether.

II
In the morning I moan;
hot bile paints my palate yellow.

III
The goblin grows inside,
inserts its teeth
in my flesh to feed.

IV
I cry as it crawls
around my stomach
and settles in the center
to fester like an abscess.

V
Each day I look
at the enlarging bulge
and my stomach lurches
to think of the hexed hook
that attaches it to me.

VI
Something controls my life:
it reaches for more of me
to suck raw.
Its greed dictates
each thing I eat;
its blind eyes oversee my fate.

VII
A suckling steals
my blood and breath,
making a mockery
of heredity, leeching
away my strength
from the roof of its padded cell
while my drained body reels.

VIII
The demon pounds
its vicious legs
against velvet walls,
pressing with curled claws.
I fear the swell
of its fetal form,
those sharp-toothed gnaws
soon to tear through my abdomen.

IX
It sates its final hunger pains,
as mine are renewed.
The creature scrapes away
tender pink flesh
and drinks life
from the exposed veins.
A flood of blood begins
to liberate this thing
impatient to infect a mate

A. Popp
1993

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