Cholesterolemia

In declaring filial bankruptcy
I must confess as well, the death
of my relative, who drank of our family’s 
teapot, who I did not warn 
that this, our oily blood, will abrade 
your pipes, will confirm you 
into hemiplegic communion, 
unpaved road gnathic against the brain, 
bite marks letting hemorrhagic floods 
past the drywall of thought.

© Tolu Oloruntoba

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Notes:

With thanks to Contemporary Verse 2 for the 3-word prompt: “gnathic,” “teapot,” and “abrade,” and Nash Lott for editorial feedback.

Image Credit: Human heart (aortic valve) tissue displaying calcification. Sergio Bertazzo, Department of Materials, Imperial College London. Source: Wellcome Collection.