THE BOOK OF FLY
for Mike Allen
1:1
Feeding on the living is good,
but feeding on the dead is better.
1:2
Nestle your offspring in the rancid.
1:3
The air is heavy; let it work for you,
but fly only until you find beauty.
1:4
Shit is beautiful.
1:5
Rub your hands together before you eat.
1:6
If you land on the wrist that holds the swatter,
consider yourself lucky, not clever.
1:7
Remain humble, if you think of anything.
1:8
You only have a few days;
stay simple.
1:9
Breed when you are able.
2:1
And when you are licked
by the frog’s tongue,
or swallowed by a songbird,
or felled in a cloud of nerve gas
and lie twitching, unconcerned,
2:2
know that it is the honor of a fly,
it is its purpose,
to die.
—from Rattle #63, Spring 2019
__________
John Philip Johnson: “I went to ReaderCon in 2011 to meet Mike Allen. He was the editor of Mythic Delirium, a magazine that, along with Goblin Fruit, had liberated me from the academic poetry tradition. I had learned to have fun with poetry, thanks to them, and I wanted to meet Mike and learn more. He gave a workshop on genre poetry in which he mentioned flipping perspectives. He made a stray comment about flies knowing their purpose was to die. I mulled that line over for years, and this came out one summer afternoon. I was sunning myself, in my wife’s garden. I had my notebook with me, as I usually do. There were flies around.” (web)
