Oh roach, my roach, my cockroach

Preening, lithe limbs in my dark mind's pantry

Show me the way, show me the how of

immortality, way past

haunted broccoli-forests growing on beds of rice

What gun, which holster, what clue

what thud

stirs us awake

What thoughts bud, what howls

What consistencies of mud,

what murk of feeling

what dread

grips, what mourning,

whose blood sends us out dancing, reeling?

Nature has struck,

Its godly belch, the sacrifice was perfect

Her smile clear, creation vindicates

her big-bang, her cruelty, her tears

wasted on us

Oh roach, my roach, my cockroach

wily survivor,

I can't restrain my urge to set you

Alight

in these mind-thickets, on this night