WISHES OF AN EARTHWORM

WISHES OF AN EARTHWORM

I would swell up and block the chicken’s craw

I would lengthen and throttle the heron’s neck

I would grow roots and suck the starling into my burrow

I would become slippery as grease and flop through a child’s hands

I would turn bright green and shriek

And all the other animals would back away in amazement

And then I would hide deep in the earth and chuckle to myself

While taking a helping of mud.

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(Photo: Worm cast: Ardmore mudflats; the nearest I could get to an earthworm!! 2021)