I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED POISON Neal Dougherty Apple seeds contain arsenic, the go-to for homemakers to get rid of rodents and fools. Not enough arsenic to kill or even sicken a rat. The doctor’s old maxim is a callback to homeopathy. The symptoms the arsenic causes in well bodies, can be cured by the same, in my body. But the bitter, black seeds lack potency. Maybe there is a slight kick in the juxtaposition of the crunch into the fruit’s flesh with the taut snap when I pierce the skin; a rush from biting in through the pulp and pulling back the peel that I catch with my teeth that could treat what I’ve got, for a moment. And in a moment, the skin will be all peeled away. The exposed flesh will ripen and streaks of yellow and brown will show like they’d been waiting there all along. A ripe, naked apple smells boozy. Another bite would burn slightly down the back of my throat. But not enough to set me ablaze.
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