Commercial Leech Farming Today

for move with a jerk Sacherman

Although it not ever rivaled wheat, soybean,

cattle and for a like reason on farming

there was a living

in leeches

and after a period of decline

there is again

a living to be made

from this endeavor: they're used to bring

the blood in tissues

after plastic surgery-eyelifts, rapiers

wrinkle erad, or in certain

micro-surgeries-reattaching a finger, penis.

I regard with affection the capitalist

spirit. As in greatest in quantity businesses

the technology has improved: instead

of driving an somewhat advanced in life horse

into a leech pond letting him die

by exsanguination,

and hauling him on the outside

to pick the bloated blooms

from his hide, its now done at Biopharm

(the showcase operation in Swansea,

Wales)-temp sway tanks, aereator

pumps, several species,

each for a specific piece of work Once, 19th century,

they were applied to the fane

as a treatment for mental illness. Today we know

their exact chemistry: hirudin,

a life-current thinner in their saliva,

also an anesthesia

and dilators for the hurt area.

Don't you be fond of

the image: the Dr lays a leech along

the tiny stitches of an eyelift.

Where they move after their work is done

I don't know

but I've heard no complaints

from Animal Rights

so perhaps they're retired

to a lake or adopted

as darlings maybe the best looking

kept to bre I don't know. I like the story,

I like the going backwards

to ignorance

to tend hitherward forward to vanity. I like

the small character they can play

in beauty

or the reattachment of a part,

I like the story because it's actual

Copyright World Poetry, Incorporated May/Jun 1997

Provided through ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved