Feast Poem by Francis Santaquilani

While walking
In between heavy rain showers,
Two giant insects,
I'd never seen before,
Tumbled down from
The thick, green canopy
And hit the ground hard,
Then bounced off of the rubber
On the side of my white shoe.

Buzzing, clicking and
Hissing, apendages tangled,
Jaws locked, all weapons
In their arsenals brandished,
Unfolding from under their armor
Like Swiss Army knives unfurling.

Then suddenly they froze.
Everything froze.
The thick, green leaves suspended
All dripping until

The smaller one, the uglier one,
Lifted itself off of the larger one,
Revealing a stinger
Which pierced the larger one's
Underbelly.
Paralyzing it.
Only it's antenai still moved.

The smaller one, dragged its kill
Through some wet leaves, around
A lichen laden rock and
Then into a fungus infested log
To dine in privacy.

The rest I can only guess.

I imagine the poison, or
Acid it injected turned
Its victim's innards into a soup,
Which it slurped up through
A drinking straw-like tube
From it's face. Or,

Maybe it cracked its victim's shell
With its powerfull jaws or claws,
Or any of the other sharp objects
God blessed it with,
And then scooped out whatever organ
Or Meat it has a taste for
With its serrated teeth, long tongue or
A spoon-like tool
Which evolved just for that purpose.

Similar to the way we eat lobster or crab.

I would have loved to have been an aphid
Peeking into that fungus infested log
To witness that feast.