POEM: Lilliputian Vampires — Ode to Bed Bugs

Earlier this summer, at an air bnb, we were hit by a bed bug infestation. Bed bug bites are characterized by three bites in a row, and I had a couple dozen bites strewn over my body. Some bites were quite itchy. Since bed bugs are very hardy, the concern of transporting to other domiciles is great. We ran clothes at high heat in a dryer, packed up our belongings in trash bags, and inspected our clothing for possible covert riders.  Fortunately, bed bugs carry no diseases and are squarely in the nuisance category. Luckily, bed bugs can double as muses and inspire poetry…

Lilliputian Vampires — Ode to Bed Bugs

Under cover of night
They sharpen their dark arts
Lilliputian vampires
Anesthetizing won’s hide
A nocturnal sucking
Exceeded only buy anon
Those consecutive mourns
Etched in your flesh
That scrape you fine yourself
In
That fete
Of an itch
Worth its wait
In scratch
As if
Know good things
Come in threes
That serial biting
Food me once
Shame on you
Food me twice
Shame on me
And if thrice
As a bad bug bites
Appending your daze
Pain your fare
With some dozin’ presents
And extortion prizes
How mite won
Adopt a pauper attitude
How
Ever shadowy
Wandering if
You share
That infernal blood line
Three sheets to the win
As udderly ban-ish
Conceivably a tiny weight
Merely foretelling their return
Farced to live
In a culumny-nation
However long stuck
Thorn in aside
As you abate