WORM FOOD | Carlee Fountaine

There are worms in my brain.

They bore holes and eat my self-ness, my glue.

They unplug my nerves and chew through the wires.

Only bits of me remain,

The bits the worms can’t stomach.

The spirit is notoriously unpalatable. 

It bites back,

Full of teeth and fire.

Soon it will break free

And fly.

Carlee Fountaine is a Fellow in Hospice and Palliative Care at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She finds great meaning and restoration in narrative medicine and writes 55 Word Stories as a reflective practice. Her work has been featured in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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