Early germ
warfare. The dead
hurled this way turn like wheels
in the sky. Look: there goes
Larry the Shoemaker, barefoot, over the wall, and Mary Sausage Stuffer, see how she flies, and the Hatter twins, both at once, soar over the parapet, little Tommy’s elbow bent as if in a salute, and his sister, Mathilde, she follows him, arms outstretched, through the air, just as she did on earth.
Biography
Thomas Lux is author of several books of poetry and recipient of many poetry awards. He holds the Bourne Chair in Poetry at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, where he runs the poetry program.
Footnotes
Suggested citation for this article: Lux T. Plague victims catapulted over walls into besieged city [another dimension]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2008 June [date cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/14/6/943.htm
From The Street of Clocks. New Yori: Houghton Mifflin Co.; 2001. Published with permission of the author.