15.1 Spring/Summer 2017

Amit Majmudar Virus

 

Neither video
Nor bacterium,

Doorknob-slobber droplet-
Borne mysterium,

Born of nothing, knowing
Only how to breed

Like some dandelion-clock-less
Dandelion seed,

Protean protein,
Hijacker, safe-cracker,

Magical papyrus-
Scrap of genome

Sealed with a cork
To sail the maelstrom,

Mimetic malice,
Code and chalice,

Yours the message
All the Muses sing:

Purity of heart
Is to will one thing


Amit Majmudar, Ohio’s first Poet Laureate, just edited Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now (Knopf, 2017), and his next volume is a verse translation of the Bhagavad Gita with commentaries, Godsong (Knopf, 2018).

 

*Read Melanie Almeder’s response to “Virus” in our Contributors’ Marginalia series.