The Survivor (Ode To The Cockroach) Poem by alexandre arnau

i watch
the cockroach
cross the floor
in appreciation
as i fight my body's
rebellion again

brother
i understand
they stamp you out
but you keep coming
broken antennae
wavering
searching
leading you
to tribal grounds

what's another
million years?

sweaty
and quivering
i wiggle my toe
just to make sure
i can
two decades of the flu
and a life on this couch

what do you tell
your clan
when you return home?
are their compound eyes
filled with magic?
fell beasts?
fantastic monuments?
a baleful eye
searching
from the eastern sky?
do they wave their
antennae
around the campfire
in a dance
to call favors
from the gods
of scavenging?

you inspire me
with your aeons old
struggle
you
who have scurried across
deserts of time
and triumphed
again and again
while i lay
sick on my couch
weak
and pitifully
human

behold
the returning hero
of the kitchen floor
saviour of his people
brave midnight warrior
who witnessed the end
of a jurassic empire...