firefly talk 

i hold my eyes like angler fish lures.
let them blink. their light, a glow
in our field ocean. the fireflies 
are coming & i am alone & pretending
to be one of them. i think
i love myself most when i am talking
with another species. o sibling, can i 
come & put my skeleton on the outside?
can you teach me how to answer
when the yellow glow flashes across
the soybean fields? i am concerned that
when you come home you will find me
gone. a jar of bugs on the table. do not
let me go. instead, feed me poems
& sugar. the illuminations like undulating waves.
i feel the pull of the land. come & be
a spirit here. walk the hills at night.
tell the deer, "always always."
i stop myself before i get too far away 
from our yard. i see in the distance
the patch of forest in the middle 
of the farmland where the foxes & 
the fireflies sleep. imagine my life there
eating wineberries until the winter takes
our eyes & puts them back in the sky.
the stars have spare teeth just like a shark.
one falls out & then another is there
to keep the glimmer going. i bring a firefly home.
his eyes grow wide in the kitchen. 
we have dinner together. rice & beans as usual.
watch a movie. a scary movie which
does not phase him. when i am done 
i open the window to let him go. 
apologize for keeping him from enjoying 
his brief life. he blinks & i pretend it means
that he either accepts the apology or he is
unbothered at all by our escapade. when 
you come home let's eat nothing 
but sugar. let's take our bones out & 
lay them on the cutting board
like kitchen knives. i am so loud right now. 
will you be able to keep me?