qarrtsiluni

from the Bed Bug Diaries

by Joanie DiMartino

Like a good hit man,
we know when to lie
low, when to disappear
for months on end,

how to blend invisible
in crowds, slip hidden
into cracks and fabric
rips, rest along metal

spirals in foam, avoid
the fuzz, St. Anthony’s
medals of lost-not-found:
gone to the mattresses.

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Joanie DiMartino is the author of Licking the Spoon (Finishing Line Press) and Strange Girls (Little Red Tree Publishing). Along with writing and performing poetry, she hosts the monthly Soup & Sonnets Salon for Women from her home in Connecticut, which is finally free of bed bugs.