With an autumn breeze
Wafts of leaves swish and swing
From trees to debris as fall brings in the insatiable cold comes the running nose just
As we drip the facet or hose to keep the pipes from froze. I send my head into the sky as something somehow shuts my eyes and I season the air with allergens spewing the unseen into the light making the invisible visible.

The garden cats aren’t mine
with my pss-pss-pss
and shuffle finger
I try to entice them
but mainly, warily
they ignore in the truest
feline tradition
to leave me and my allergies
wishing

the first days of spring are upon us
and the rebirth is apparent in things all around us
from the leaves slowly growing back
to the grass, in need of mowing from growing fast
squirrels nibbling on juniper berries
the scent in air, sappy tar carried
with pollen intermixed
your allergies amiss
though still fortunate for the spring

her eyes are crochet pillows upon a peach couch
that is subsequently her face
red and puffy and not very comfortable

there are only two blues;
her irises
and the gloom that she feels every day

are you ok?
what happened?
people ask as they pass her on the street

nothing
she says
im allergic to something
she adds

what?
they ask

she do not know

though she has the inkling of an idea
that she is in fact
allergic to unwanted attention

Let me tell you of a girl,
Eating a simple lunch under a tree.
Pretzel sticks, an apple, and peanut butter for dipping.
The sky was blue, the sun shown bright.
The kind of day you might describe
As indescribably perfect, unnoticed.
Walked through but not talked of.
She sat embracing it as children played
In a pool near by on this warm summer day.

Let me tell you of a boy,
Who ran to play with his friends
A boy with blue eyes who couldn't swim.
Running with squirt guns around a poolside,
The pavement slick like ice but
The child did keep caution too
Until a kid behind pushed him in.
Flailing arms and voices screamed out
As a girl ran to see what was about.

Eyes closed, water had its hold
As a girl knew CPR keeping him going
Coughing and coughing, maybe it could work
Choking but alive looking at another with worth
Only long enough to fall back out
On the wrist of  the boy was a medic alert.
"Peanut allergy treat with epinephrine"

I'm allergic to this
I'm allergic to that
I'm allergic to most foods
Well, at least I'm not fat
I can't stand under the sun
I can't play in the rain
When I stand for too long
My head starts to pain
I bleed from my nose
I know it sounds scary
There was this one time
When I ate a dictionary
No, I'm just kidding
There's no paper left in the house
I used it all to clean my nose
Oh, look at your face. I think I got you aroused

Dear Ana,

I feel like I've had you on my mind, this whole life.
I feel like you might take me from this family,
Suffocating me, cutting me out with a knife
It's hard for me to understand why you follow so close,
At times when I eat alone, I think of you the most, Ana.
While other demons take a backseat you will never be ghost
They called me a freak in school with you on my chest
And Ana the nights you felt closest,
Are the times I wanted to rest.

When I see your face, you leave me breathless,
My heart starts pounding with my mouth trembling
You pull me in and whisper "let's end this"
As much as it pains me not to succumb to your song,
I pull your arms from my neck then you're gone,
Gone in a person but there in a presence
But I don't agree to that fate, yet have come to acceptance

So Ana, you say you miss me and every meeting seems dire
The doctors, they tell me, you're bad for my health
Still until I expire you'll never retire
And Ana feels access holding my throat in
With one injection and slowly i count to ten
Now Ana be silenced for a moment
But still talking from within.
Ana never leaves but keeps quiet until it's a struggle again