silkworm

A Poem by Marshall

power rises in the production
deep in intangible factories
churning digestive juices into valuable
spittle
extracted through death in a warm bowl
battling with tweezers and collected
in spools to make silken wonders

for this you lived on leaves
gorged on mulberry
to vanish in a pillowcase
silkscarf, maybe a tie
poor thing whoever discovered
your intestinal value

give up your secrets
gut wrenching rainbows of delight.
man knows how to breed you for himself
somehow.