Swine Flu
by and published in Edition Nine of Pomegranate
At the outbreak’s first sneeze
the doctors purchased brightly coloured
rattles and extra sedatives.
The mother became a hamster,
devoured five of her young. Her argument was
they’d be much safer nestled inside her belly.
Taking our cue from the Doctor – Strangelove, that is –
we readied the nukes and burned our copies
of Babe: Pig In The City.
One by one the hooded boys took off
like bats on their bicycles, wheeling
into the dusk with a harpy’s joyful shriek.
The opportunist stripped off his skin
and walked the streets, a shark, waving
health insurance claim forms.
And when we found the monster,
the carrier of the bug, we put on our hyena clothes
and tore him limb from limb.
Matthew Haigh
Matthew Haigh is 24 years old and based in Cardiff. His first poem was published in Poetry Wales, January 2009. His interests include Japanese culture, harpsichords and Francis Bacon.