This morning I awoke, itchy and bumpy.
The damn mosquitoes got me.
What made them attack all in one night?
Ahh the weather changed, again.
This must have been a conniving bunch.
It seems they got me symmetrically,
a bite in the same spot on both sides of my body.
Left hip, right hip. Left shoulder, right shoulder.
The list goes on.
And what's this strange one on my left temple?
His partner must have abandoned his mission.
And anyway, how rude, to bite my face.
There's plenty of other meatier flesh.
I'm stubborn.
I refuse to buy a mosquito net.
If they want me, let them have me.
I didn't leave my life in the states
and give away all of my possessions
and comfortable lifestyle
just so I could be dirt poor
and continue to separate myself from everything else.
It may be just a net,
light airy mesh,
but it seems like so much more.
So come and get me, the buffet is open.
(And besides, I'm a little claustrophobic.)
There's no Malaria in China, right?
Right?
Oh well.
I've had Dengue Fever and lived to tell about it.
What's a little Malaria.
**pause**
Ok, I just read the Wikipedia entry on malaria.
Maybe I'll buy a net.
Nice poem with a sense of humour, and it's set in China. Asian Cha might like it. They didn't accept my short fiction story set in Sichuan, but your poem is better.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Giora! Do you post your writing online anywhere?
ReplyDeleteNo. I am not a natural writer. I just wrote one novel and now do my best to get it published. I send again a small part of it to AsianCha and maybe they will accept it. If you check AsianCha blog from March 10, they have a contest for Flash Fiction.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to transform the poem into a flash fiction and submit to the contest. But if you do, put more of China in it and chage the title to something like "Me an a Mosqituo in Henan Province". Make it more Chinese like you eating a famous dish from Henan and also listening on the radio to a famous Chinese song. The more you make it very Chinese, the more likely AsianCha to accept it. I like it because it has sense of humour, like you being the buffet.
Sorry, I see it's Hainan province.
ReplyDeletePoor EJ!I have same experiences with you,so i think that the damn mosquitoes fell in love us,lol~
ReplyDeleteThank you for the additional info, Giora. And for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteYingying, they got you too?? Are they this bad all year 'round? I sure hope not. Good luck! :)
EJ,you know they get me every year!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway,why is not my time in China??now my time is USA...i'm confused...
ReplyDelete