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Guidebooks for the Dead

Drink tap water only in large cities.

Drink boiled water and thinned tea.

It is not advisable

Except in hotels.

Take tablets of Resochin Bayer.

Then let it sit

For ten minutes

In potassium permanganate.

Change sweat-soaked underwear.

Wash once a day with soap.

Don’t shower more than three times a day

Using one-part mercuric chloride per thousand.

When possible, peel fresh fruit.

When not, wash with soap.

from Guidebooks for the DeadFind more by Cynthia Cruz at the library

Copyright © 2020 Cynthia Cruz
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Four Way Books.

Published in Cynthia Cruz Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.