Mitchell Grabois

New

I discovered a new species
in the near wetlands this morning

I was up to my knees in sludge
as we note-takers often are

when I spied it on a leaf
and examined it

It was not a creature to be startled into flight
half snail/half yellow-jacket wasp
its stinger protruding from the posterior
of its shell
 
I determined it was wingless, slow to attack
not an easy responder to provocation
therefore mutated with advanced anger-squelching capabilities
by means of a valve
located between its antennae
though this speculation
deserves further study

New to the world
yet it is obviously endangered
despite the sympathies it will provoke
in humans

Self-Discovery

Searching for my origins
I know I can’t find them on Geneology.com
I know none of my ancestors was a slave
or an Irish lord

I’m way too far out of alignment for that
so I write thousands of porn poems
dedicate them to the Marquis de Sade
and e-mail them to the editors of literary magazines

who respond with 
photos of their inflamed genitalia
along with sympathetic rejections

It’s not you, they say
It’s me




© Mitchell Grabois