POEM - Biological

After a quarter wasted

Sitting in study hall

I opted out

Got the Biology gig

As student aid

With the cool Bio teacher

All I was expecting

Was clean the trays

Copy the tests

Organize the cabinets

And sweep up the lab

What I got was much more

Morbidly cool and grotesque

I was led to a room

Hidden behind a nondescript door

Right by the elevators

In the ancient old Main building

What wonders this closet held

Such curiosities

As I was met with shelves

Loaded to overflowing

With jars of specimens

Glass encased death

Afloat in liquid preserve

I was told to thin the ranks

Dispose of the oldest stock

But I wasn't told how

And with a little too much glee

I loaded the cart

With a freakish assortment

To take to the lab for examination

The bouquet of formaldehyde

Hung in the air

As I dissected and examined

Sharks and pigs and tape worms

In a constant stream of gore

I’d like to think I learned something

That it wasn't a waste

I know that later in life

I am not squeamish in the least

Can handle most any horror

That happens to occur