Antennae curving like scythes,
they once moved like excited pups
waiting for their owner to arrive.
This Cambrian creature
patrolled the darkest seas,
growing up to six feet long.
But this one fits in my hand.
Mid-curl, forever in chase,
its eyeless carbon ghost lives on.
Oh, ancestor of today’s cockroach,
once the height of the food chain,
teach me about impermanence!
Paulette Guerin lives in Arkansas and teaches writing, literature, and film. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Best New Poets, epiphany, Contemporary Verse 2, and Carve Magazine. A suite of 25 poems appears in the anthology Wild Muse: Ozarks Nature Poetry. She is the author of Wading Through Lethe and the chapbook Polishing Silver. Her screenplay, Irish Rose, was recently optioned by Cinterra Entertainment. Her website is pauletteguerin.com.
the water and the gills 