WHAT TO SAY AFTER A CERTAIN KIND OF MAN BEGS FOR HIS LIFE
“Mantids are sometimes called praying mantids or soothsayers
(Greek, manti = soothsayer) because their forelegs are held in
a supplicatory position resembling prayer. Nearly 2,000 species
have been described.”
—Timothy J. Gibb, Contemporary Insect Diagnostics
When I tell you you’re a snack I mean
for real. Look at you. You got the motion,
that roll and roll swagger. The way you swivel
your head and track me with those big red eyes—
you see what I’m not: the petal-limbed orchid,
the dancing devil’s flower, hands up. No unicorns
here, either; I’m just like other girls. And I’m not
a leaf or a ghost, I couldn’t hide if I wanted to.
I pray out in the open. I can leap like a cat, adapt
in mid-air. I can tear a hummingbird right out
of the blue, a different kind of honeyeater. Isn’t
that what you came for? You already lost your
head for me, though you’ll tell yourself it’s all
for the thrill, all for the kids. And when I turn
back for that first kiss, you’ll ignore every
warning, even the last: My God, look at you.
Look at what you made me do.
(Greek, manti = soothsayer) because their forelegs are held in
a supplicatory position resembling prayer. Nearly 2,000 species
have been described.”
—Timothy J. Gibb, Contemporary Insect Diagnostics
When I tell you you’re a snack I mean
for real. Look at you. You got the motion,
that roll and roll swagger. The way you swivel
your head and track me with those big red eyes—
you see what I’m not: the petal-limbed orchid,
the dancing devil’s flower, hands up. No unicorns
here, either; I’m just like other girls. And I’m not
a leaf or a ghost, I couldn’t hide if I wanted to.
I pray out in the open. I can leap like a cat, adapt
in mid-air. I can tear a hummingbird right out
of the blue, a different kind of honeyeater. Isn’t
that what you came for? You already lost your
head for me, though you’ll tell yourself it’s all
for the thrill, all for the kids. And when I turn
back for that first kiss, you’ll ignore every
warning, even the last: My God, look at you.
Look at what you made me do.
ABOUT THE POET
Laura Ruby is primarily a novelist with eleven books published, including
Bone Gap (Balzer & Bray, HarperCollins, 2015) and Thirteen Doorways,
Wolves
Behind Them All (Balzer & Bray, HarperCollins, 2019), both National
Book
Award Finalists. Her short fiction has appeared in The Florida Review,
Pleiades,
and Beloit Fiction Journal, among other magazines, and she has
poetry in
Clockhouse Vol. 8 and forthcoming in Poetry Online. Currently,
Laura teaches
writing at Hamline University and is an MFA candidate in
poetry at Queens
University.
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