they tip < on a picnic table < near east park

sister one pulls her clutch frontbelly

sister two bids her bag < tabletop < where four ants

ferry a meat crumb

sister one: don’t you < remember

how we lived? the way < we all worked?

sister two: I remember being < a spore print

a woman walks up looking for a table

the ants slip < down a column on the side

excuse me, sister one coughs < twice

sister two: we were ants < brood dreg

sister one: we’re what now?

the woman < stands against a lightpole

a bridge of antbodies < slink < between tableboards

sister one: from a lint < we had a loaf

from a star < we had a heavy < cup

sister two: I have always loved fresh < pear

< but we were tiger

mosquitos

clutch in black < water

gravid self-reliers <

the woman lights an American Spirit

sister one: vulture and crocus < extraordinary bites

we take toward death

don’t you think of < how we fade

in the cricks of the big < hand?

sister two: you’ve never tasted geosmin

before adabsorption

sister one: I’ve smelled earth < boon

raindrops in nicktick

< soil

and tasted geosmin’s black

sister two: and the < taste

of a < meal without the drag

of colony?

< sister one: for whom’s benefit?

sister two: the wolf! the wolf!

the ants banquet <

the woman stands near < the table:

nostoc < star jelly < butters in both

dry < and moist environments

suntrap < larvae shelter < gelatinous

meal

sister one: don’t you remember < Sister?

sister < two: I was so < starved