less than

an ant
forms a mound with
numerous cousins
easily stepped on

a bee with stingers
cannot
consume you

the warp of
toad can fit into
the palm of your
hand
you can blow it
to smithereens

a body the color
of bark can
hang from a
southern tree

a girl from the
reservation can
disappear into
nothing
never seen

a journalist
speaking truth
is tortured into
lies – he too
vanishes

the world knows
lots of them
the ones sent to
gulags
re-education camps
ghettoes
gas chambers

entire peoples
recommitted to
the rule of tsars
princes
oligarchs
narcissists

the ant at
the mound is
crushed into

nothing

the crushing
is such
a human thing
to do

2/2022