no one is watching and then, i watch
a praying mantis ladders the window screen
and i don’t believe in mistakes
so my looking at the moment she shimmies
herself upside down, as i understand it,
is a kind of signal for a new year
one where when a dusty god in the lowgrass
nips at my ankles, it translates to kissing
to a welt in honor of pleasure
what i am trying to say is there’s some sort of heaven
in her triangle head
in the way she turns toward me
rocking as if weeping
how motion can soothe
how power can arrive on naked wings
without warning
i do believe in sequences
how things belong to sound and meaning
a place from which we can measure
mantis, from the greek word for prophet
i want to be the butterfly
in her mouth
a silence snatched from the air
Copyright 2022 nicole v basta. Originally published in Willow Springs, Issue 90, 2022. Reprinted with the permission of the author.