well boss
you find me heartbroken
i thought i had found someone who
loved me for me
who knew that under these hard
elytra beats the tender dorsal
vessel and
accessory pulsatile organs
of a scholar
and a poet
all those pictures of me in my library
devouring page after page of
literature and philosophy and
never falling for the long-legged
beauties who threw themselves at me and
yes i crawled on a lap or two but what
do you expect a poikilothermic creature
to do question mark
but i thought i had found the one
and called on her
yesterday morning
to declare my love
and for a long time
she did not speak
but passed me a piece of paper
which i guessed would be a Petrarchan sonnet
or a villanelle or even
i apostrophe m openminded
blank verse
as only poetry could express her
love for me
instead boss it was
an old Tunnocks wrapper
and suddenly i was on
the cold step outside
her back door
boss i won't deny it
i stayed there for a long long time
maddened with sorrow
tiny tears falling from
each each of the lenses
in my compound eyes
i thought of my friend
Mehitabel and how she would
deal with it dash head held high
and quote its cheerio my deario
that sees a lady through
toujours gai archy
toujours gai close quote
but then i got angry
mad as hell boss
and i called for my friends
come in your billions
tiny small feet
and humming little wings
crawlers and creepers
wigglers and stingers
avenge your fellow insect exclamation mark
so cruel usurper of the name Beetle
who broke not only my dorsal
vessel but each of my
accessory pulsatile organs
a warning dash
if i were you i apostophe d take
the safety catch off
my Flit gun...
archy apostrophe s coleopteroid cousin