"The Worm in My Apartment" by Orion Shaw

Poetry - Grapevine, Spring 24/25

The worm had grown near a foot in length

Eating

Eating

Eating through all my strength,

of my roommates, none mov’d against the worm, 

“It’s just been cleaning out our trash!”

it was too cute, 

too novel 

Just to burn

it had been so boring in that room the last 2 years and 50 days

so we let the worm march on

and my roommates,

They let it take stage

utilizing, repurposing

all our trash,

Churning, crushing 

building mass

Snipping, slicing

it ate a page

They kept it

“What good is a book when the worm is at play!”

the house got sparser 

forgotten lives in the sieve.

Those things,

Those pests,

had no right to live

the lives of simple bugs and rats,

Gone

“For the better in the end!”

I left that home,

weary of the sight

No eagle could kill the worm now

Only salting the earth would suffice

but I was just one man, shouting out against the tide

the worm would eat itself to death 

so I waited for its strife

When I came back to see my home 

I had to stop to cry

Void

Husk

Empty

Gone

Nothing left for life