Stuart Watson                                                                                                                      

Party in the Compost Bin

Taking the compost out
for an introduction
to its better nature,
I note a tiny lettuce head,
freshly coiffed and flared,
poking above its dirt,
and an overpopulation
of writhing red wigglers,
eager to turn apple cores,
coffee grounds and onion
skins into a festive event,
like mid-morning coffee
at the Starbucks on your
hominid first floor.
A big fat earthworm rips
his shirt and wags his
nightcrawler clitellum
belly at a squirmy babe
(at least, I think she’s hot),
hoping for a little
writhe and rolling.
What airline did they fly?
How do they consort
without a pool? Is there
a worm that looks like
Arthur Lyman? I heard
a tiny combo strumming
ukes in a slimy nest of skin
from cukes, so lounge,
so louche, nibbling loud
enough to wake the neighbors
when that is what a worm
calls slugs, and when a slug
calls for just one more. Down
the skanky street and up,
a tropic party scene prevails
beneath the heavy-lidded turning
bin, fermented onion
skins a kind of pina colada,
for creatures without T-shirts
stowed away in flip flops
on a FedEx load from Calgary,
eager to hit the salty
peanut shells for toga time,
howl at the moon through
the bare and sleeping
branches overhead. Surf’s
up enough for eggshell
tube rides to tortilla wraps.
Take a whiff. That’s one dope
luau at the fungus eating
tangerine. Vermiculture
has its action going on.
Throws its pots. Paints
its air with a chorus
of drunken invitation.
I never thought of winter
rot as this, nor more
of where it all could lead.
I never thought I’d need
to set my bait-rig rod
and hook beside my door
before I take my wife to bed.

Honored for his work at newspapers in Anchorage, Seattle and Portland, Stuart Watson has placed literary work in Bull, Yolk, Barzakh, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Bending Genres (Best Microfictions nominee), The Writing Disorder, Reckon Review, Sensitive Skin, The Muleskinner Journal and other publications, all linked from chiselchips.com. He lives in Oregon.