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By Rodney Koeneke

The bug’s psalm: don’t get crushed.
Afterlives feel meaningless
but spring will come,
push out the nubs
the kids braid into pallets.
Take up your pallet
from lawns noon’s hardly touched.
The small think gods
just loll on clouds.
Bugs think gods just crush.


  • Nature
  • Religion

Poet Bio

Rodney Koeneke
Koeneke was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and Los Angeles. Koeneke earned his BA from University of California-Berkeley and his PhD in History from Stanford University. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and teaches at Portland State University.  See More By This Poet

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