Telomere—

Telomere—
the end is here—
Cold leaf
on a windshield— wiped—
conducts
the end of songs—
Cicadas gone
Flu shot season is here
but too
late for the trees—
they’ve gone red with
happy rash— 
it spreads— erythematous
blight of devotion—
faster than flesh-eating
disease
Dark limbs hide
behind brilliant, violent
hills
A forest of slapped
cheeks
and amorous
apoptosis
Mountain sides— merry
with Asian flush

How do you inherit
seasons—
cycle— to new— 
and split— the cell?

A foreign gene
burns—  crackles and
reddens—
maddens to a fit—
then numbs into
an ash
of white— on
white

Familiar DNA
contains jungles—
slowly swells
from brown
to squirming green
then wildly
drowns
in typhoons—
monsoons
of blue in
blue

1. Telomere replication – disposable buffers at the ends of chromosomes which are truncated during cell division, thereby protecting genes from being truncated instead
2. Fall foliage maps are the best
3. Necrotizing fasciitis – sudden onset, spreads rapidly; one needs a high-index of suspicion
4. Asian alcohol dehydrogenase genes – cause acetaldehyde to build up, resulting in Asian flush (and unfortunately an increase in esophageal cancer risk as well)
5. Mitosis – “my toes” helps me remember this is how somatic cells in the body make new cells. Meiosis is how germ cells divide and create cells with half the number of chromosomes.
6. The Philippines has two seasons – a wet and a dry season. The rainy season occurs from June to November, bringing with it monsoons, typhoons, and floods.
7. Race & Ethnicity map of New England – the New England states have remarkable percentage point differences when compared to the general U.S. population