~JEN KARETNICK~

MILLIPEDES IN THE WET SEASON

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Eschewing the tyranny
of the rains that drown them
 
in their usual quarters,
—every fallen avocado
 
leaf sodden, each
coconut husk rotten—
 
whole families of millipedes
have decamped to the house,
 
trundling through the coral,
down the damp drywall
 
and across the Dade County
pine that has also been
 
pocked to patchwork.
These dark columns
 
in their search for higher
ground, which drop into
 
milk-stained cereal bowls
from ceiling fans, writhe
 
against the moist caulking
in the shower stall and,
 
keyed with the message
to coil instantly, smaller
 
than dimes against threat,
tempt the tongues of my dogs
 
to lick them into position—
well, they do no harm
 
except with their posthumous
defense: a humid musk
 
released upon crush,
perpetual scent of the immigrant.
 


 
© by Jen Karetnick