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PCR Idol​

Toy plastic,

Pink cactus costume-wearing bear,

Personal PCR idol,

Totem of laboratory Paganism.

 

You stand to four-legged attention,

Ready to guard,

With your Japanese-styled cuteness,

Bristled in darkened spikes,

Inhibitors and foreign DNA,

Beware!

 

But I am a scientist,

So you do nothing, but

Lie forgotten in the orange shadows

Of running thermocyclers,

Collecting contaminants and dust.

 

I wipe you down with seventy-five percent ethanol,

And pack you away,

To another sterile room,

Air thickened by humming machines and

Sweet smelling nucleic acid destroyers.

© 2025 by Erin J Doyle

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