Growing Pains / She as We Is Learning

A sound from underfoot,

squeaking, chitinous,

a cockroach like creature,

his brown shell,

antennae radaring the air.

ㅤ

Suddenly, I imagine him growing,

the size of me, larger, a whole room,

would he eat me? Take me into his mandibles,

as inconsequentially as a twig, a morsel,

no malice, just the prerogative of nature:

Matter and hunger and death.

ㅤ

In the street, the smell of pine,

someone speaks.

ㅤ

“You are my best creation” the voice of nature says,

talking of us all,

“I am learning

with you”,

“You are softer creatures”,

and I think of how I considered the roach,

cared for my almost stepping on him,

wondered this chain of thought,

“Before I was raw, elemental, matter and death,

twig and morsel”

now I see her, figuring out a new sophistication,

a new intricacy,

through us.