The Worm


My finger snakes across the table
to demonstrate the path
that a dissecting tool would take
to split the skin of a worm.

Its smooth, taut shape
I will slice and pin back,
careful not to cut too deeply
severing its ribless body in half.

Lowly invertebrate:
fish bait - earth composter
the all’s clear after rains -
neither sexed – both sexed

opened for discovery,
guts revealing aortic arches:
five loops carrying blood
to its five beating hearts.

Five hearts, four more
than human, to torment
and devour the one
so easily insinuated into.

My finger remembers
the smooth, sinuous skin 
that covers his cheek.
How did he work his way  
in and not fertilize?

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