I’ve Got You Under My Skin
By Jeffrey "Dr Chordate" Moran


I’ve got you under my skin. Deep beneath a stratified layer of waterproof keratin.
Below my epidermis and dermis, from the outside in.
Where it’s calloused and thick and where it’s thin.
You make my melanocytes manufacture melanin.
Yes, I’ve got you under my skin.

When you’re underneath my dermal fat
deposits, you fill me with desire.
And then my 2,383,194 sweat glands
start to perspire,
And the 5,000,000 bacteria per square
centimeter of skin surface break down
organic wastes
Producing an odor somewhat offensive
and distaste – ful.

I’ve got you under my skin.
Deep beneath my shedding dead cells and unique fingerprints.
Below mitotically active basal cells dividing again and again.
Where UV irradiation of 7-dehyrocholesterol produces D vitamins,
Which aids calcium absorption from the small intestine.
Yes, I’ve got you under my skin.

When you lightly touch me, like the kiss of a butterfly,
My Meisner’s corpuscles let me know.
And when you hold me close and squeeze me tight,
Ruffini and Pacinian organs tell me so.
And wherever you are hot, Krause’s corpuscles show me the spot.

I’ve got you under my skin.
Inside of that large organ involved in temperature regulation.
Below layers of cells preventing microbial invasion.
Deep beneath sebaceous cells forming zits and secreting sebum.
Under hair follicles and erector pili muscles making hair stand on end.
Yes, I’ve got you under my skin.

Yes, I’ve got you . . . under my skin.