Walking Pneumonia Poem by Wanda Swim Strunk

Battery acid fingers
Burn at the touch
I walk and whisper
I have no voice

Driving on Roller coaster hills
Once Stalked by corn
Grant Wood trees
Used to Bubble up from the ground
Like lava pools
The trees have lost their leaves
The spiny spindly branches
Aren’t going to stop the disease
In the breeze

Cinder block building
Non descript
For a prescription
And to look at the American Flag
Outside a building full of foreigners
And foreign made objects

Here we go round in circles
Round round circles
Versus Godzilla
Versus MothMan
Or the Gila Monster
It’s low grade

Disorderly fashion
Objects lose their meaning
Becoming bits of background color
I have to get over this cold
And off the codeine

Drive back home
Like Grant Woods death on ridge road

Climb under for a clammy sweat
Breathing like a fish out of water
Eyes staring at the wall
I think I see the virgin Mary in the designs of the plaster
Could I chip that out to sell on ebay
To meet the expense of my Dr bills?

I am coughing like my Grandmother Hoffmann
Her cough made me think why go on living
If you just cough and watch soap operas

I melt into my marshmallow mattress
Cry hot cheek streaking tears
I turn on soap operas
Coughing while I go on living