Virus
six dark the idiot’s lantern shows me
rainbows you branded sick which made me
wear masks wash hands as if Lady Macbeth
breathless gagging until I spit it out
blue eyes turn to pansies fag butts syringes
before a ten year talk with my other
half changes your mind sixty the TV
shows you Richard of York give battle in
vain you won’t rubber up scrub fists until
it’s you who’s out of puff fags the virus
never killed me I could swallow three pricks
father I lay pansies on your headstone
James McDermott’s poetry collection Manatomy is published by Burning Eye and their pamphlet Erased is published by Polari Press. James’s pamphlet of queer nature poems is forthcoming with Broken Sleep Books. James’s poems have been published in various magazines including Poetry Wales, Popshot Quarterly and Fourteen Poems.