05-26-2014, 10:46 PM
(05-25-2014, 12:51 PM)Erthona Wrote: Water-bug
I cut out some parts of the poem, but did it without much thought. The idea was to get rid of some of the extra info holding the poem down. I couldn't tell whether you intended the poem to be facetious or not, but the strongest part seemed to be the idea of seeing the insect and not doing anything about it (something I have actually done before with spiders sitting in the bathtub). Who will cry for water Bugs! Water Bugs dead, ere their prime!
The big water-bug types
we have in Austin
get three—four inches long.
One of the biggest I’d ever seen
was laying in my bathtub on his back.
I had sprayed my house recently,
and every time I do,
I find big dead ones
all about for a day or two.
When I first saw him
I let it go a day.
A day later while sitting on the toilet
I noticed him again,
but this time his feelers moved,
and then as I moved around to see better
his legs started to move about.
Somehow I knew,
that he knew,
death was near.
I finished with the toilet,
and got a piece of paper towel.
He continued to move,
and as he did so
I contemplated catching him
and letting him go,
although I knew he was dead already.
I laid the paper towel over him
and pinched his body between my thumb and two fingers,
and dropped him in the toilet, quickly flushing,
but not quick enough
to keep a small part of me
from dying with him.
–Erthona
©2014