(Inspired by Song of Myself by Walt Whitman)

Ode
I
Salmonella loves chicken and duck
If you don’t cook it well, you’re out of luck
Raw eggs and turkeys too
If you don’t wash up, it’s gonna get you

This Gram negative makes you wish you took a sedative
For 6 to 10 days this bacilli infects your bowel
But in less than two, you’re gonna howl
Symptoms from gastroenteritis
For a week will keep you nauseous
Vomiting, diarrhea, maybe a fever too
I have to drink fluids to get over you
II
But Salmonella, you are still beautiful in our eyes
Never mind your microscopic size
So go on, don’t be shy
Your long flagella could knock out any guy

Your L form will always remain a mystery to me
You need your cell wall to keep turgor pressure, you plea
I cannot reach through your thick envelope
For this tainted love, there is not much hope

Chicken, turkey, unpasteurized milk
Your lipid membrane, like delicate silk
Salmonella, why do you cause me so much pain?
Of my bowels, you are my bane

I love the way you Gram stain red
I love the way in eggs you tread
Salmonella, prokaryote
Just for you, this poem, I wrote