JESSICA TOLBERT
​

8:30 am Zika Virus Seminar at The Palace Hotel

8:30 am Zika Virus Seminar
at The Palace Hotel
the man leading
the seminar pronounced
microcephalic as microphilia
everyone was kind
no one corrected him
running late having skipped the initial
networking component I asked
for the Zika Virus Seminar
at the concierge
to be told that no such thing
was happening
at the Palace Hotel
the seminar was on the books
under the name
of the pest control company who
sponsored it
no other attendee had asked
for the Zika Virus Seminar
by that name
the man leading the seminar
emphasized transmission methods
which are human semen
and the female mosquito known
colloquially as the ankle biter
this Powerpoint slide included
a macro image of
a female mosquito
and the lone text
of the word semen
the lifestage in which
children are planned
discussion about
the composition
of children
becomes mundane
or, semen
is mundane
as is its discussion
but in this seminar
in these Powerpoint slides
the method of
human-to- human
Zika transmission
is semen not blood
he said not saliva
at first a Jack D. Ripper
paranoid delusion related to
the recent sensation that
the world is burning
however most
of the room was nodding
if your semen is tainted
your heterosexual coupling
is tainted thus
the nature of a couple’s semen
an item of co-ownership
becomes intractable and frightening
you cannot have children
for two years after Zika infection
or you risk birth defects
the man leading the seminar
mentioned his new marriage
the possibility of children
the travel of pregnant women
also causes Zika he added
his wife wanted
to go to Brazil he would not
stand for this Zika is
no more dangerous
than the flu
to a healthy adult
he did not mention
his semen

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JESSICA TOLBERT's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hobart, PANK, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn