Gods of Mantis by Cheri Raley Phillips
Riding the windy back of a leaf
Among shivering moonflowers
Shrinking from the light of day,
A pardonable sense of devotion
Lay ravaged
'Midst the milieu of
Cicada sepher beats.
The mantis is shredded,
Stuck fast
In a jade executioneers
Thorny jaw.
Devoured,
By a fierce afficionada,
In a ravenous crucifixion.
Dismantled,
Swallowed whole
And consumed
As life giving Eucharist,
Amalgamated forever.
What was, is no more,
Save for nourishment,
Holy excrement for garden flora
And obsessions slinking
Below muddied beds.
Cycling in tandem,
The intention of birthing
Collective green ribbons
Born with the nasty habit
Of eating their young males
Alive.