Fever Bark
.Jungle fever
Dulls the brain
Weakened by exhaustion
I lie, wracked
Pale, emaciated
Red blood cells infected
By the protozoans of
dappled winged parasites.
Blood-letting
Medieval catch all mercury
swallowed
Leeching, purging
The horrid malevolent spirit remains
Resistant
against
The blood-sucking parasite
Dressed in Cinchona’s laurel like leaves
Wearing a crimson gown
The fairest of Peruvian hand maidens
Harvests the Jesuit bark
Methodically grinding seeds
Into a bitter, colourless, amorphous powder
Amounting to the weight
Of two small silver coins
The fine bitter tasting
Popish powder
A powerful antipyretic
Given as a beverage
Mixed with lemon and lime
Soothes the blood-sucking parasite
And words flow
seamlessly
In Melbourne as in Lima
Heather Blakey April 2005
.Malarial
Fever
Shivering
Temperature rising
Headaches
Hypotension
Jaundice
Two drops of blood spread on the microscope
Stained and examined
Detect the
Falciparum parasite carrying Anopheles mosquito
Confirm a
Malignant malaria affecting the brain
And nervous system
The resistant parasite is in the blood
Symptoms appear, disappear, come and go in phases
No known anti-malarial products
No quinine, doxycycline, mefloquine
Is tolerated
Will combat
The parasite that daily demands I write
posted by Heather Blakey @ 11:09 PM
6 comments
The 
6 Comments:
Heather, this is so divine.
I feel like you are pulling in some far off ancient kindred,
from the depths of your soul, connecting to the roots of your being.
And the picture with it!
I wish this was in a book that I could pick up from my coffee table, with pages and pages of plants and poems, like this.
Fever Bark, indeed.
TRen
Hmmm....is this the thing that stalks the Abbey at Midnight? What happens to us all if it reaches out and...
Just Wondering,
Anita Marie
PARASITES!
I LOVE this poem!
Anita Marie
The idea is so original. How in the world did your thought processes capture it?
IT WAS THE PARASITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you everyone. At a time when I am feverish and disorientated, thanks to the parasite that periodically disables me :-)I appreciate your feedback.
Your concept of an ancient, kindred spirit from the roots of my being is deliciously romantic Trendle. There is no doubt that my diagnosis is sourced from deep creative roots.
Frankly Barbara, it all began with the word malaria being whispered to me and culminated in the beating of jungle drums until the word was reverberating around my ear drums.
The myth that malaria is a disease you cannot rid yourself of captured my imagination and I had a lovely time researching it all.
The more I researched the more I became convinced that I have a form of malaria.
Right now I am lying in a weakened, feverish state, suffering a form of creative exhaustion, but Chinchona has no doubt heard my call and is hopefully harvesting the Jesuit bark as I speak.
So yes Anita Marie! It is the parasite that are the culprits on two fronts - that are tugging to control my creative flow.
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