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Sneeze

I love the benign
violence of it—
impossibe
not to close your eyes
when this small
homemade bomb goes off,
unnerving
a few bystanders,
but causing no
injury or damage,
and then—incoming—
a second explosion,
and maybe a third,
then a rickety lull—
itchy, intoxicating—
before the final
salvo, finale, sonic
boom! Clean sweep:
mission accomplished.
Knowing smiles
and blessing all around.
No need for alarm,
no return fire, no
casualties, no grieving.
Just clearing
the old nasal mucosa
of all the latest
foreign invaders,
thank you very much.

—
Paul Hostovsky’s poems and essays appear widely online and in print. He has won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, and has been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, Only Poems, The Writer’s Almanac, and the Best American Poetry blog. His newest book is Paul Hostovsky: More Selected Poems (FutureCycle Press, 2026).

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