En Passant

        Devourers

 

 

He was a mammoth shoehorn that wedged want into young minds.
She was a praying mantis coarser than a city port.

 

He spied her in the Food Mart pawing pouches of pork rinds.
She noticed but feigned otherwise, enjoying the sport.
She stalked up aisle three allowing him to think he stalked.

 

He cautiously pursued, perusing supermarket wares,
and caught her as she spun where, vis-à-vis, he blanched and balked,
and sputtered, then excused himself and fingered Gummy Bears.

 

She chuckled and whisked by exuding Zen-like inattention.
He briefly pried her psyche and, between the chips and pop,
caught her again; or she him, for he felt pinched in suspension;
And there they, Lays, and Tabs converged: a cosmic four-way stop.

 

Then all began to eddy like a pool of Autumn leaves –
Probing, darting, spinning; no ebbing, no surcease –
At one another's predatory throats like hungry thieves.
But savagery is spiritual, and just as the police
arrived, why, she devoured him, then struck a reverent pose.

 

And in her day of court, demurely she mimed innocence
(in a prudent pew position and her chartreuse Sunday clothes);
and Your Honor let her off, citing a lack of evidence.

             ###  --  wpc