![](https://i0.wp.com/www.zomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/R.-Tanaka-of-Japan-microscopic-elements-from-the-periodic-table.jpg?resize=900%2C598)
Photo by R. Tanaka of Japan — microscopic elements from the periodic table
Xenomorphosis
RAE ANNE HENWOOD
brave enough to enter then go
away white, drained, and maddened by
this invisible leprosy.
I am too contagious—
tread lightly in my hypocaust,
inviting and fearsome.
You will flee when the sulphur
escapes.
Beware the lash of my scorpion tongue.
Venom sounds from all sides and
I will not be sucked out so easily.
Thigmotaxis expands into obsidian
afterbirth; crystals burst and break until
I am, once more,
impenetrable.
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Rae Anne Henwood is a third-year student at the University of Victoria in the Writing Department with a focus in Poetry.