i am revived by the stirring of many aphids marching across
the face of a lone leaf
they tentatively move along the side
like lovers passing by deserted bedrooms
offering themselves to
nowhere all
at once.

this is my course
the path i was never meant to discover
or even think
think
of those times
in which my heart held its collection of immense fears
and mediocre satisfactions
by the minute, by the hour
grazing away at each person's life
i once loved

i am you, also
i am that strange seed
that beckoning darkness floating among uprooted
flowers in a lake
the insects arrange themselves in
such a way
as not to drown, or seem over-zealous
in their appetite.

I will pluck strings of ancient riddles and laughter
and feel with discomfort the touch of your breath
on my back
telling me
don’t ever ever leave me…

one green creature,
nothing more than a punctuation mark
in an ecosystem of mythic size
touched his feet out onto the water
ready to leave the leaf
but held in a deadly vice
by the quivering tension of the water
around each leg.

I am not that bug
I am not the one whom water and
The microscopic imperfections of biology
Hold fast from acting, from getting my food
That future’s prize for me is the fruit
Of freedom
Freedom to move and not be blown aside
Or swallowed up
Or forgotten by one’s comrades.