I Feel a City Inhabiting Me
My body begins to sprawl & sag loaded with a burgeoning city
that dodged my attention till the glut of its phantom population
threatened my instant eviction, every square-inch of my tenanted skin
groaning under the stamp & swagger of undocumented feet
listen & you will hear the self-indulgent honk of buses
navigating the miasma of snarl-ups in my inflamed tonsils
or perhaps the salty susurrus of a toxic ocean far towards the south
my maudlin tears & streaming sweat mean a broken sewage system
the industries mushrooming in my intestines do a roaring trade
as I can verify from how ravenous I am always
also my ruptured appendix speaks of too much garbage
I thought the dark circles under my eyes signalled sleep deprivation
but they are narcissistic specters of carbon monoxide
gazing into effluent-choked pools
my vitamin D levels dipping towards alarm indicate
solar panels mounted on my forehead
apparently there are windmills whirling deep within my nostrils
powering my sporadic luminosity
for all the damage the burning of fossil fuels has done
every household still belches chalybeous smoke
through its chimney whenever anger makes me myopic
a ghetto rears its head from my silhouette
puppies nosing around for the trail of million-dollar dreams
somewhere away from the centre there seems to have been a children’s park
with a swing & a merry-go-round
the rust spilling from my blood is proof
that nobody wants to play anymore
at night I feel each strand of hair
stand on tiptoe for a headcount
who knows what will happen to the migrants now?