serum sickness

by Candice M. Kelsey

Throat closing

fire pythoning these joints

lymph nodes rolling

broad net of spots capturing skin

as my immune system rejects

antibiotics swimming

into the cove of my body

like the annual hunts

called grindadráp in the Faroes

anyone can participate

in black-suited sprints down

gritty shores of Bøur & Tórshavn

toward horror’s netherworld 

roping and lancing pilot whales

hundreds stranded

no contest for men proud

in an archipelago of gore

weeks later I recover

run hands soft over my thighs

slick bulbous melons

of flesh at the shore of me

a fading remnant of hives

like blood-stained brows

Candice M. Kelsey [she/her] is a poet, educator, activist, and essayist from Ohio and living bicoastally in L.A. and Georgia. Her work appears in Passengers Journal, Variant Literature, and The Laurel Review among others. A finalist for a Best Microfiction 2023, she is the author of six books. Candice also serves as a poetry reader for The Los Angeles Review. Find her @candice-kelsey-7 @candicekelsey1 and www.candicemkelseypoet.com.