An another hospital
I almost died
With ecstasy
Glancing at the Babylonian
Rooftops of the Bronx,
And at my fellow
Kaiser was dying of Leukemia,
Not enough thick blood,
I had too much.
I was dying of die-sadness,
Others had diabetes
like my Uncle John;
Others had sores in the stomach,
ulcers, worriers? –
Sexfiends I’d say.
Old Italian Fruiterer
Had Banti’s Awful Disease,
the bloating of the belly
by undigested water
come from food,
everything he ate
turned to water.