See You Later

D.A. Powell

The virus, your gentleman caller, pays his vulgar respects. We’ll work from
     a composite sketch. Send out a dragnet.
The thing is, those creatures can hide. Oviparous inside your ear canal they
     hatch in your cochlea spiral & spiral.

How did he get inside? Jimmy, oh Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack, why don’t you cut the
     lock. Somebody’s mocking me.
He’s like yesterday’s newspaper: Sure you’d pick him up in a bathroom. But
     you already know his type.

Hit the lights. Now who’s at the door? It could be anybody. Let’s call him
     Jimmy now for continuity’s sake.
Jimmy’s not going to give us his specimen without we got a warrant. You’re
     going to have to catch him in the act.

D.A. POWELL’s most recent book is Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys (Graywolf, 2012). He lives in San Francisco.