Jon D. Lee
He Couldn’t Stop Himself
idiopathy (noun): the spontaneous occurrence
of a disease with unknown causes
or mechanisms, as in bone resorption,
or ligamentous ossification,
or the calcification of infantile arteriae;
from the Ancient Greek idios, meaning
own, personal, distinct, and pathos, meaning
suffering, thus literally a disease
of its own kind, or perhaps one’s personal
suffering; in layman’s terms, a condition
wherein the body begins to tear down
the very structures that keep that body
alive. See also: war, politics, poetry.
Jon D. Lee is the author of three books, including An Epidemic of Rumors: How Stories Shape Our Perceptions of Disease, and These Around Us. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Connecticut River Review, Oregon Literary Review, Clover, and Hobble Creek Review, as well as in the anthology Follow The Thread. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Lesley University, and a PhD in Folklore. Lee teaches at Suffolk University and Stonehill College, and spends his spare time with his wife and children.
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