what are the odds
in town for a breath
and you’re in the air
uncannily there

Mycobacterium avian complex
No sightings for 20-plus years
Yet we study it, as if
it were ubiquitous

and there are two possibilities
either this is just me, talking to me
or this is a cryptogram
& something you see

regardless I find
this rheumatic fever
is here for all time –
time is a deceiver.