'Song of the Other Worm' by Manal Kara at Prairie, Chicago

i long for teleological thoughts
something immaculate and absolute
 but desire remains a firm and silent fruit
a lemon with its eyes closed

anxieties
the anxiety of being mired in one’s moment
the anxiety of overspilling one’s margins
the anxiety of truth as an asymptotic function
the anxiety of never being able to go back

i have yet to feel the flower
 nature blooms for elixir color
 like a plump plush winnie the pooh in a cloud forest
desire does not seek its object
desire seeks only to replicate itself
desire is both mechanism and form of proliferation
like love dogs howling their way back to their own poiesis

and you too a lowly worm,
my favorite kind of worm


love poem to another worm 

you are the apple of my tooth
softy and mealsome
snack that you are