Death of a Poem

Under the mattress
for the past ten years
unbeknownst to its
soon-to-be adopted mother
it lay incubating
while denizens
of the world above
tossed and turned
flopped, giggled,
stumbled drunkenly
swore and made love
it lay furiously
crafting its cocoon
with miniature
calligraphic strokes
grafting
stem to serif
until one day
tilting up the corner
she found it
a lone ovoid
upon closer inspection
pregnant with searing longing
reaching out to cradle
fingertips throbbing
she began to type
breath by trembling breath
until the frittering began
crunching giving way at last to
one elegant black leg
a finely tuned antenna
now two
the grand finale
a quartet of wings
uncreased with magnificent
deliberation
and so he found her
standing
cupping it
a look of rapture on her face
turning a diamantine compound eye
in his direction
it flew at him
bopping blithely in its course
towards the screen door
of his mind
she flinched at the inevitable collision
hands flying to her face
and all was still

there was no turning back

Copyright Iole Damaskinos 2005