Eyes see you thousands of times, over and over and over + 997;
Plain sight amplified by one million and four.

Tingling translates tiny tumults into thoughts triggering movement,
Liquid action relocates drop by drop from gland to fang.

A flare, a flash, a mere instance of radioactivity;
One by one they begin to flea, Oh … how they flea.

Seize, convulse, shudder, heave. It’s no good.
The webs we weave, unrivaled in rigidity.

Coppe diem!

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Godzilla the Skink

Gina Wisker

Basking himself on the sun-drenched window ledge
Of our vine-clad mountain retreat
Little Cypriot skink, tiny lizard
Mountain variety.
Scuttling from poking fingers
And inquisitive children, hiding
Between curtains and shutters
Secreting yourself sometimes
In the laundry basket
to suddenly reappear and surprise us.
Cheeky little swift-eyed sure-footed gecko
your relatives have always been here
up in this mountain, down on the coast,
Out on the desolate Akrotiri peninsula
Torn by RAF test sites and gorse
Electric fences, and warning signs.
In Singapore also, Malta, Australia and South Africa your relatives
Have rid us of mosquitoes.
Morphing in size and shape, always somewhere
In nooks and crannies, gaps and fissures
Under a stone, up in the eaves, down in the corner
Behind an urn, in roadside cafes and beachside
Restaurants.
And each evening as entertainment for us, drugged by the
Vast but now receding heat we
Watch your eternal patience rewarded
Nimble footed, rapid, fierce, merciless
darting flicking out your long tongue
devouring the oblivious contented hawk moth
in a single sudden
gulp.

How interesting now then your reluctant metamorphosis
How very intriguing in the airforce camp
Out through the citrus plantation
Just beyond the Roman ruins, mosaics of lost civilisations
Myths and tragedy
In that secret testing zone
Gorse-covered and desolate
Beyond the cafés with the drowsy old men
Playing backgammon
Drinking cups of small thick coffee, how surprising
Following the hushed up crisis
Ineffectual, distant curls of smoke
The odd detonation
Unplanned but interesting –
To the eyes of a newly metamorphosed
Godzilla the Cypriot skink
All these old men and those children playing on the beach –
How they now resemble
Moths and mosquitoes.