i beg of you, mr. wu. no msg

i tell

the man at the Chinese

restaurant,

no msg,

no msg, mr. wu, please,

i'll die if you

sprinkle msg onto

my take home order

of kung pao chicken,

and egg rolls.

can you please go into

the kitchen and pass

this word along.

thank you.

thank you.

i leave an enormous

trip for his trouble.

an hour later 

after one bite of chicken,

i'm puffing repeatedly

on my rescuer inhaler,

and holding

my throat.

reaching for the phone

to dial 911.