I'm sharing a poem that expresses the feeling of having GVHD, as a result of a stem cell transplant with my brother as my donor:
Genetically Modified Organism
one part of me
does not like the others
senses a separate origin
elsewhere
hurts what hinders
its self-expression
saws at the quick
of my fingernails
has a bitter distaste
for my tongue
drops hints
of distemper
into my liver
leaves faint-inducing
traces of arsenic
in my kidneys
hates my guts
with a torrid passion
keeps me safe
from a still worse
enemy
knows I depend
on its hostility
loves me
in spite of everything
like an envious
younger brother
who plots his revenge
through a two-way mirror
and watches me
where I blindly suffer
the life-giving
adrenaline
of his anger
