Praying Mantis

I have three poems in the current issue of New English Review. Here is the first of the poems:

Praying Mantis

We always celebrated Easter
with a bucket of KFC,
coleslaw, and biscuits
at the picnic table
in that little park
by the school.

No bonnets, no frocks,
no parades.

I was seven or eight
the first time
we pulled up in the old
Packard Eight
to unload lunch.

All of a sudden,
my potbellied dad
jumped backward
nearly losing the chicken.

He pointed to the windshield
where the oddest bug
I’d ever seen
sat goggle-eyed
and grooming.

We had learned
from an early age,
that mantises
were never to be disturbed.
“The cops will lock
you away,” my brother offered—
presaging his future,

I got up close to stare.
All angles—joints and eyes.
But, I was eight—
the skinniest guy in the neighborhood—
no meat, just joints and blue eyes
that popped from my head.

Two bugs sharing a windshield
as the sun starts down.

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7 Responses to Praying Mantis

  1. Lovely…congratulations.

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  2. karenadria's avatar karenadria says:

    Where is the link to the journal?

    Sent from my iPhone

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  3. Such fun. One of my favorites (and I have several!)

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  4. Thomazine Shanahan's avatar Thomazine Shanahan says:

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