Ontogenesis

by Rachel Davis

if one were to eat a butterfly
how much monarch toxin

would it take to kill a body to sprout
milkweed halos temple to crown

would it split the lip untasted
would women become would women

bud chrysalis and daggered leaf
would the heartbeat spill a slow stream

of milk how many moon eyes
edges and wings would be born

out around one large abdomen
if bound again hands to bladed

shoulders would there be wings
would all of it move in the blood like venom

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