Parasites
The Purple Emperor and Zebra Longwing
Cannot survive alone on sweetness
In death comes opportunity,
Decay and bitterness provide satiety
No charity exists in Charax
whose serrated wings will kill a rival.
And am I different?
Watching, feet planted atop absent ancestors
No more than a saprophyte
Feeding on society’s wet stumps
No second thoughts
Doubts are lethal to the heartbeat
We all partake of the corpse that offers, silently,
Alms to the open-handed.
- © Mukund Gnanadesikan 2021
Mukund Gnanadesikan is a poet, novelist, and physician who lives in Northern California. His poems have been published in The Fib Review, Paper Dragon, Cordite Poetry Review, Praxis, and others. His full length fiction debut, Errors of Omission: A novel, was released in November 2020 by Adelaide.
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