ANTS

Infinitesimal frenzies,
They have banded into gangs,
Mobbing an upturned insect,
Lifting in flanked procession
The palanquin of flesh.

They surface and disappear
Like a heat rash and feel
Like a mild attack of cramps.
Magnified individually
They are fixed more sharply:

Bodies like puffed rice,
Jaws grinding busily,
The swaying swollen head
Blistering with dreams
Of others of their kind

Who drag their inferiors
Away as slaves, and clans
Arrayed into armies,
Mowing teeth stripping any
Breathing thing in their track;

Livid seethings outnumbering
Harnessed thrashing beasts,
They advance, planned cordons
Dredging the land, multiplying,
Communicating silently.
 

DOMESTIC CREATURES

LIZARD

Tense, wizened,
Wrinkled neck twisting,
She clears
The air of small
Aberrations
With a snapping tongue,
A long tongue.

PIGEON

Swaddled cosily, he
Settles by the window,
Burping softly;
Eyelids half-closed,
Head sinking
In a fluffy
Embroidered pillow.

SPIDER

The swollen-headed spider
Spins yarns from her corner.
Tenuous threads of her tales
Glitter like rays
From the fingertips of a saint.

She weaves on, plays along,
Hangs from a hoary strand,
Rolls, unrolls: a yoyo,
A jiggling asterisk: a footnote:
Little characters transfixed
In the clutches of her folds.

COCKROACH

Open the lid, he tumbles out
Like a family secret;
Scuttles back into darkness;
Reappears, feelers like
Miniature periscopes,
Questioning the air;
Leaves tell-tale traces:
Wings flaky as withered
Onion skin, fresh
Specks scurrying
In old crevices.