if you suffer sensitivity to shellfish, fishy smells, fish scales . . .

Bajo Manhattan Block Set, Maisonette.com

Do Not Take This Medication . . .

If you are prone to choking, choke when prone, 

smell gas, pass gas, are gas lit in the gaslight 

of a dark night; suffer sensitivity to shellfish, 

fishy smells, fish scales, practicing scales, 

scaling a climb-wall, toy towns built to scale, 

that youth who can’t come out of their shell, 

oh, that’s you; if you are allergic to all-beef patties, 

Peppermint Patty, Patty Hearst, an Irishman 

named Paddy, Patty Duke, the Patty Duke of Earl, 

duking it out with some schmuck. Do not take 

This Medication if allergic to flu shots, recently flew, 

fear wearable software with a virus. Do no use 

software at the dinner table. Only flatware.

—Sarah Sarai, First Literary Review East, Nov. 2019