Jennifer L. Knox

The Body Is Its Own Thermometer

Having lost all faith in my own memory,
I was taking notes in the doctor’s office.
“First, you’ll lose the ability to write...”
he said as my hand suddenly cramped up
and drove the pen off the edge of the paper.
I wondered what he would possibly say
next. “Then you’ll begin to wonder a lot...
mostly about possibilities...” That’s weird,
I thought. “...And how weird things are...”
My heart began to pound—I felt dizzy.
“...Accelerated pulse, lightheadedness...”
“Stop,” I said, closing my eyes. “Your eyes
will close, panic will set in—and you know
what the biggest killer in the forest is?”
“You?” I gasped. “You wish!” he hawed.

Jennifer L. Knox’s most recent book of poems, The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway, is available from Bloof Books. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and four times in The Best American Poetry series. She is working on her first novel.