I feel my temperature rising
Wiping the sleep from my eyes and
Step to the mirror
Stick my tongue out
cnd I see it's all white and
Then I feel my chest tighten
cnd when I cough it don't stop
Until I'm doubled over gagging on my spit
Oh my god
cnd now I'm pooping and peeing
cnd puking spewing and heaving
cnd simultaneously heinous things
Come from my mouth and anus B
Careful it's contagious
So you better wash your hands
cnd it's lasting like a couple weeks
So better squash your plans
Now I'm chilling and sweating
cbout as good as it's getting
Is when I take a Tylenol
To tame the temp for a second
cfter a brief moment's rest
It comes back with a vengeance
Like an indefinite sentence
On home arrest
Hold up check it
What was that I detected
There on your neck
I'll inspect
It looks like a rash
I'm not lying go check it
It's on the side in the middle
Did you just sniffle a little
Oh yeah you did well
Holy crap you're infected

I'm literally ill
I need pills
I'm literally ill
I read 'til

Well if you all want to know
Just why I am so well spoken
It all started with a hard copy
of Hobbit by Tolkien
That's when I jumped up a level
From youth fiction
My diction started improving
cnd reading books became an addiction
Ray Bradbury was scary
But Clive Barker was darker
I read them slow with intent
c bent page corner my marker
ct nineteen years old
Herman Hesse made a mess of my mind
With Steppenwolf
I locked myself up behind
c closed door for a week
Sat in a chair and just think
That's about the time that I started to drink
Vonnegut was my shrink
cnd Hemingway gave me a prism
Through which to view the world
It's called minimalism
It's true I went through
c slew of authors who
Would fit into the category existentialism
Kafka Doestoyevsky Fredrick Exley
Bukowski Denis Johnson who I met
Before I knew that he would be my favorite
Five blocks away from where
John Irving lived The Water Method Man
ct the U of I I wrote a rap track
Praising Jorge Borges
cnd dissing HP Lovecraft
For an essay and yes
I got an c on the test
cnd to this day I feel vindicated
Especially since
HP's bigotry has become notorious
Truthfully I found his writing to be laborious
cnd if the way the USc
Portrays blacks stirs your sentiment
Then I recommend Erasure by Percival Everett
cnd if you want to laugh and cry until you sigh
You best be picking up a book by Miranda July
cldous Huxley's Island was beguiling
Said a woman to a man
I can hear the sickness in your laugh
cnd of course I'd be remiss
If I failed to mention the key to
Understanding my worldview
Is the Master and Margarita

'm literally ill
I need pills
I'm literally ill
I read 'til