song of coughing in the library

the silence of the library is like the silence of the dead
at least until a phleghmy cough comes exploding out of my head
i came here for the silence to be wrapped in like a blanket
so like a rug from under me my own throat had to yank it
and tumbling into my own bright purgatory of sound
my cough struck me like lightning bolts from the shadows all around
no one is even looking but in my heart I know it
I think I might be sensitive because I am a poet