JESSICA TOLBERT
8:30 am Zika Virus Seminar at The Palace Hotel
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8:30 am Zika Virus Seminar
at The Palace Hotel the man leading the seminar pronounced microcephalic as microphilia everyone was kind no one corrected him running late having skipped the initial networking component I asked for the Zika Virus Seminar at the concierge to be told that no such thing was happening at the Palace Hotel the seminar was on the books under the name of the pest control company who sponsored it no other attendee had asked for the Zika Virus Seminar by that name the man leading the seminar emphasized transmission methods which are human semen and the female mosquito known colloquially as the ankle biter this Powerpoint slide included a macro image of a female mosquito and the lone text of the word semen the lifestage in which children are planned discussion about the composition of children becomes mundane or, semen is mundane as is its discussion but in this seminar in these Powerpoint slides the method of human-to- human Zika transmission is semen not blood he said not saliva at first a Jack D. Ripper paranoid delusion related to the recent sensation that the world is burning however most of the room was nodding if your semen is tainted your heterosexual coupling is tainted thus the nature of a couple’s semen an item of co-ownership becomes intractable and frightening you cannot have children for two years after Zika infection or you risk birth defects the man leading the seminar mentioned his new marriage the possibility of children the travel of pregnant women also causes Zika he added his wife wanted to go to Brazil he would not stand for this Zika is no more dangerous than the flu to a healthy adult he did not mention his semen |
JESSICA TOLBERT's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hobart, PANK, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn
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