A Mantis’s Prayer A Poem by Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois

A Mantis’s Prayer
 
In a devout moment
he beseeches Allah
that he not lose his head
over this new woman
 
Yet he knows
he could easily be damned
She’s bigger than him
and stronger
 
He knows the life worth living
that his brain controls inhibition
while a ganglion in his abdomen
controls the motions of copulation
 
Absent his head
he will lose self-consciousness and
consummate his relationship with wild abandon
No more Fuck me! Harder! Fuck me rigid!
None of that will be necessary if she eats his head
 
But Allah has heard his prayer
and has fed his new mate smaller
less significant insects before their
liaison
so she leaves him his head
 
He fucks her royally
and feels satisfied
 
She is also fulfilled
and feels warm glimmers of compassion
 
She snuggles up against him
and they doze together
in the high green grass
that so completely matches their bodies
 
Then, not tempting fate
he slowly and quietly disengages himself
and hurries off
into the vast corn field
 
 

 
 
Work by Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois appears in magazines worldwide. Nominated for numerous prizes, he was awarded the 2017 Booranga Centre (Australia) Fiction Prize. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and as a print edition. His poetry collection, THE ARREST OF MR. KISSY FACE, published in March 2019 by Pski’s Porch Publications, is available here. Visit his website  to read more of his poetry and flash fiction.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

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