So many of us are stuck inside at the moment, here’s a poem about the outside coming in.

Grasshopper

You made a myth of whitewashed wall,
jarring ambassador in green,
somehow casting the house as stranger

As though it had attached itself to you,
transported to a pre-suburban state,
where under carpet grass hills still roll.

Unsettled by your vital stillness,
we thought it time you were replaced,
your outside, outsize presence too much to bear.

That ovipositor of yours should twitch,
life-wired, upcurving stretching out,
we know what’s best for you.

So quivering through the door,
I gave you back to the outside,
returned to find my world had shrunk.

***

Thanks to my friend Sam Laub and Gorgeous Brewery for letting me use their Grasshopper ale image. If you’d like to try some, go here: https://www.gorgeousbrewery.com

•