Tense canvas, taut from young weight
a cocoon ungestating fly to maggot
Robins as Crows above, seeking hot meat
And the biologist in his shelter,
His experiment gone awry and temper—
rather, tempo— high
as the lawyer sees the pregnant sack – tied from oak to pine – struggle,
she worries that it seeks to birth
but the worm yearns to dig deeper into the womb:
this above ground burrow
this weak-willed shelter paling
white as maggotflesh to the 3-story iron monolith
whose stories are as follows:
conflict • apathy • fear
bottom to top / floor to roof
He restrains Himself, those PhD veins pressing hard despite
His forehead skin’s resilience, attempting to flee
from His wrath—
rather, wrap— of thoughts,
pockmarks taut as canvas over bone
this state a result of his
this State a result of His desires
taught as a Biologist far from home
now gladly returned but
the fly is soft and insolent
and wingless
or the wind would carry it
so the fly is grounded
the Experiment deemed a failure by
the Biologist deemed his father by
the Lawyer deemed too meek by
the Fly doomed to fail by
the Biologist doomed to regress by
the Lawyer doomed to not play a role
and the fly would be lunch
to the Robincrow’s insectivoraciousness
if not for the 3 stories of ironic safety
and how many times, how many had He
reprimanded the little retard—
rather, rascal— do not disrespect
he does not learn
He does not earn such change
the fly becomes maggot
or worm or slug
strung up to oak and pine
nestled and nursing in the calls of Crows,
that natural evening dinner bell
No one retrieves the pet.
and it wonders if it wanted to be retrieved
in the first place
Yes/Maybe/but only the first place
those thoughts of second-hand failure
at second wrap the slug
as second-hands tick away and
are minute-hands and
the thoughtwrap is rough and stretched as canvas
a sort of deep canoe
this vessel that carries the worm
these wings that entrance from above
invisible but apparent against the sky
blocking the infinite starlight
in an impossible shape while
they coalesce around the pet
a cocoon from which erupts an
Emperor Moth that IS the worm
Whose wings are wide and tall
Taller than all 3 stories
Wider than any Crow’s beak
First and best at all contests
Respectful and respected
Powerful, relentless, inconsolable
Feared and served by all
Eradicator of Biologists and Experiments
Prohibitor of Science and Law
until the fly wakes to Robincalls
on the third floor, among his fresh sheets
white as starlight wings, washed and starched, rough and taut as
Particular Words in a Specific Order 
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