Contagion

A mother-daughter mood that spreads like flu:
an irritable snip, that snaps over there;
the electric jolt passed hair to hair; the challenge
communicated on a cough, passed on raspy throats;
tension suspended like a rope from word to word;
the reddened cast brushed face to face,
from hot rash to cold sweat.

CC 2007 Sharon Mollerus