Vaishnavi Kolluru


come to me, boy

surrounding me is a swarm of cold
the frigidity pinches my skin
and a bunch of gnats
bore their way through my pores
they burrow within my skin
a sharp knife into my canal
as i am the only source of warmth and life
in their vicinity.
slowly they infect me
penetrating through my layers
until they enter my blood
where they circulate
and infiltrate my mind
as they suck and slurp out
the contents of my cerebrum
(this is brain freeze)
they plant their seed
“an accident”
now i am their substrate
they grow on me
disregarding my life
because i am like nutrient broth—
abiotic.
now i am emptied
my memories faded
as the gnats sucked out the wisdom
i had worked so hard to accumulate.
they have had their feast
as my head is only so rich
with knowledge
i’ve been spent
so they swim through my blood again
(the blood with no brain to serve,
in the human with no brain to serve her)
and climb out the way they came in:
subcutaneous adipose
tunnels of pore
until freely they drift into the cold
once again
they look for a host
and even after their departure
their excrement in my bloodstream
returns to my head
and murders any scraps
left behind by the gnats
that were formerly teeming with intelligence
but now have fulfilled their purpose
of feeding them
that’s all that matters now
that’s all that ever mattered
since it’s all said and done
for i have been used
and am now cold
and waiting for you 
to come near
and give me warmth
and be my broth
and take me in
like i did for him.

Vaishnavi Kolluru is a sixteen-year-old writer from California. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Cathartic Lit, Trash to Treasure Lit, and Little Old Lady Comedy. She experiments with her STEM writing side in her science blog, SixFootScience.com.

 
 

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