photo: ralph murre
by Steve Tomasko
You said
I should write more love poems and
I said, I’m sorry, but I’ve been thinking
about
sloths. Well, actually, the moths that live
on sloths. Nestle into their fur, take the
slow,
slow ride through the rain forest. Once a week
the sloth descends to the forest floor.
Defecates.
Female moths leap off; lay their eggs on the
fresh
feces; jump back on. Their caterpillars
nourish
themselves on the fetid feast, metamorphose
into moths, fly up into the canopy to find
their own sloths. They prefer the three-toed
over the two-toed. Who can figure attraction?
The algae-covered sloth fur is the only home
the sloth moths know. The only place they live.
I know it’s a Darwinian thing but fidelity
comes to mind. Commitment. Patience.
The world writes love poems all the time.
~
previously published in The Fiddlehead
