REBIRTH

by Michael Keshigian

Mindless, aimless,

devoid of harm,

somehow an amoeba

ingested me,

wrapped its protoplasmic

single cell

around my world

with one pseudopod stroke

and stuffed me into

a vacuole

where I was maintained

with digestive acids

that burned my skin

and cleansed

with random enzymes

that floated in front

of my eyes,

my psyche reduced

to its lowest denominator,

a fraction of the computation

that was me.

I lost my arms and teeth,

my laugh and travails,

left with only a nucleus

until mitosis,

when I was born again

with a gelatin brain

and no definite shape.

ready to ingest

without prejudice.

Michael Keshigian is the author of 14 poetry collections, his latest, What to Do With Intangibles, released by Cyberwit.net. Most recent poems have appeared in The Comstock Review, Blue Pepper, California Quarterly, Misfit Magazine, and Tipton Poetry Journal. He has been published in numerous national and international journals and has appeared as feature writer in twenty publications with 7 Pushcart Prize and 3 Best Of The Net nominations.