I Have Always Loved Poison Neal Dougherty

Neal Dougherty

Apple seeds contain arsenic, the go-to for homemakers to get rid of rodents and fools.

Not enough arsenic to kill or even sicken a rat.

The doctor’s old maxim is a callback to homeopathy. The symptoms the arsenic causes in well bodies, can be cured by the same, in my body.

But the bitter, black seeds lack potency.

Maybe there is a slight kick in the juxtaposition of the crunch into the fruit’s flesh with the taut snap when I pierce the skin;

a rush from biting in through the pulp and pulling back the peel that I catch with my teeth that could treat what I’ve got, for a moment.

And in a moment, the skin will be all peeled away. The exposed flesh will ripen and streaks of yellow and brown will show like they’d been waiting there all along.

A ripe, naked apple smells boozy. Another bite would burn slightly down the back of my throat.

But not enough to set me ablaze.