A bacterial cell wall’s view of penicillin

I'm very pleased to announce that this new poem has been published in Issue 4 of Consilience: https://www.consilience-journal.com/issue-4

A bacterial cell wall’s view of penicillin

I shroud the cytoplasmic.

Membranes are worth protecting.

Peptidoglycans grow my

spinal column; they cross-link.

A rigid reticulation dear to an absent heart.

There are meshes everywhere.

They make life interesting.

My viability rests

on transpeptidase;

it works

The cross-linking with fake needles and instant jurisdiction.

Penicillin is my nemesis, like reverse satin.

It enters my habitat,

binding to transpeptidase.

Such a bold beta-lactam!

It shocks me,

I’m answerless.

My mesh is inhibited.

I wither on vines that burn.

I’m trashing around now, touching nothing

….ex-reprobate.