by Jacqui Knapp
With no
adipose tissue
or fast twitch muscle
fibers to keep him warm,
he lies there,
freezing.
With no
glucose available
for him to generate
adenosine triphosphate,
his body digests its muscles,
leaving nothing but skin
and osseous tissue.
His body’s priority
Is keeping his heart pumping,
leaving no energy for
thought.
His ribs
are covered by
a transparent sheet of epidermis.
His zygomatic arch
protrudes from his sunken face.
All twenty nine vertebrae
poke through his thin skin.
Too weak to stand,
he lies there,
waiting to be saved from
his seven year old body.
