A Bowl of Phlegm

[Delta40]

3.23am
Spluttering hacking gurgles
set like brown jelly in my lungs
and drown out the howling wind.
In the throes of infection I expectorate,
through a wheezy chest rattling louder than hailstones
hitting a tin roof.
No milk in the middle of the night
God not soy in my coffee again!
The creaking office chair emulates my aching joints
while the sickening mewing of alleycats
make the sound of spitting up phlegm
into a bowl seem almost normal.
Yet my self-disgust is just another coughing spasm
that remains firmly wedged like the rest of the filth
and growls its refusal to hawk itself up.

[MystyrMystyry]

Sounds horrible Delta - I know this because I had a flu once that I thought was going to end me. Delirious through lack of sleep (even thought I was already dead and the germs had taken over, my mind just a remnant of system memory)

After a week of trembling implosion where no amount of pharmaceuticals assisted, finally a dose of raw garlic and buttered toast eradicated it in less than five minutes - still needed to catch up on a few days worth of sleep of course.

(Garlic was prescribed in Russia in 1918 to end the rampant flu epidemic)

[Twota]

So 'eww'! makes it good, I guess.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Amazing, Delta! I cannot think what you culd not make into an interesting, vibrant pulsating poem!

[firefangled]

Interesting closing lines that expand your coughing into a larger realm. I'm with Prince, you have quite a wide range for making poetry from the world and all its variation.

[Delta40]

lol cough cough! It was either this or an 80 year old woman in a mini skirt wearing thigh high boots with skin so loose it flopped over the brims.....

[Delta40]

Actually, I'm starting think I've got pleurisy or pneumonia (hope I spelled them right) so I'm seeing the doc tomorrow.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Brilliant.

[Delta40]

Thanks Mutatis. I know this is an eww poem but it's also life!

[Red-Headed]

Yeah, thanks for those very vivid & potent images, now excuse me while I go & poke out my mind's eye ...

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Thanks Mutatis. I know this is an eww poem but it's also life!

I like "eww" poems. I like the abject. It is unpleasant, but much of life is. To ignore it and only write about pretty flowers is short-sighted and unrealistic.