not acid, it's arsenic
why do i like extremities
in my serene world
not a second do i hesitate
to jump in a pool
in a world of gold-colored rock
arsenikos, strong, masculine
and i am brittle too
my hair has strands of silvery-white
the sun has heated up the rocks
the sun will heat my skin
that's why
i know the sun will always shine
that's why i do not hesitate
i did consult the dictionary today
i hope you forgive me that i did not add
very poisonous
we will see
it's been more than a week ago
and i do still live
In lower doses, arsenic is antiseptic and medicinal. When I lived in Bangladesh I ate something that gave me amoeba that lodged in my liver. I goy sick enough to go to the doctor. What the doctor gave me was arsenic in medicinal form, and a fairly high dose too. It made me sick. Arsenic builds up over time. That made my liver too toxic and it killed the amoeba. The doctor told us it might not work, that I might get too sick and the amoeba might survive, but I was strong enough and it worked. Decades later, I was kicked out of the pool of blood donors because they came up with a new and highly sensitive test for hepatitis C. I tested positive. I had given gallons by then and no one got sick from my blood as far as I know. My doctor here agreed with me that I most likely did not have hep C. What I think happened, the amoeba and the arsenic changed my liver in some way that tested positive on that highly sensitive test, releasing the same or similar enzyme or whatever after decades. It is now way over a decade later and I still don't have hep C symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI do not think arsenic baths would be very toxic on a one time basis if at all unless you drank it, or perhaps if it was highly concentrated, and then still arsenic usually is toxic over repeated exposures that build up the amounts stored in your body.
your story very interesting Christopher, thanks, there is medicine in nature everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI did not drink it, but tasted it and it tasted like metal.
It's important to know and to remember that the sun will always heat up those rocks. What a feeling to be against them, to receive that heat.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're not dead:)
xo
erin