after Hiromu Arakawa’s Full Metal Alchemist
liberal arts colleges should let you
try your hand at alchemy
a humanity of the hard sciences
transmuting my body without anesthesia
some organic compound measured
to the milligram
others a few dashes in
turning lead to gold is the stuff of nonbelievers
and the close-minded
an equivalent exchange of my chest
for something more useful
like a student loan payment
and with that alchemic circle drawn
i’ll stand inside and chant my decree
that i learned from alchemy 101.