Chimera Poem by Anne Higgins

Chimera
New gene called a chimera made by fusing two genes formerly located on two different chromosomes - the head of chromosome nine, say, fused with the tail of a gene in chromosome thirteen The Emperor of All Maladies

Cancer beast, home-grown terrorist,
worm of the world,
fabulous crawling, knotted energy,
the doctors have concocted new monsters.
Herceptin will get you -
Chimera engineered
from cancer to oncogene
to targeted therapy
to human trial.
Organized chromosomal chaos
will eat you.
The Philadelphia chromosome,
Chimera to cure one type of leukemia
will smother you.

Stop hesitating on the edge, cancer beast,
take shuddering steps into the woods
where you will find the Chimera
drinking water from the plate
you left behind, beside the chair
where the weary breastless woman
takes the Chimera one drip one sip at a time
through the flexible straw
below her shoulderblade.