Centruroides exilicauda
Bark scorpion
Joshua Marie Wilkinson
Poem for a Bark Scorpion
Threader of quasi-
tentacular horrors
neither reticulate
nor fanged.
Just an unapposed claw
to steady a friend
into easy conversation.
I palm you in a dream
little phantom lime
spittle of what’s awake for
not much longer.
Your cantilevered strike
almost feathery, almost
childish dawdling
or snakey from behind
listing to sting in.
But it’s your mummy claw
holding a warm stranger still
that rings me up in the night.
~~~~~
Joshua Marie Wilkinson is the author of five books of poetry, the editor of two anthologies, the director of a movie about Califone, and he teaches at The University of Arizona. Two new books, Swamp Isthmus and The Courier's Archive & Hymnal, are forthcoming.