ichthyology, etymology, epidemiology, entomology

this is a wild of shadows
shadow had it almost right
here, the pilot-fish, silverfish,
house-centipedes

this is archaeology and anthropology
I see the beginning
but it's all bugs to me-
comfort of symmetry
scattery in the brake lights
and ferny shadows
deeply gray and brushing my calves.

these words lose their meanings
in the proud nose of the world
and people in overhanging branches sing along
at shake and jake's christmas club,
while lovers whose old kisses wink here still linger drinking
and bits of shrapnel glimmer where they landed
like schooling fish in their underwater library silence.