We beg to be    acceptable
as insects, first.
We promise to grow
more human-like,
to your liking.

We ask you
to ponder the bugs
       who change
       their shapes
from Hellgrammite
to Dobson Fly   adjust
from pincer
       to mandible.

We’ve changed    like they did,
       from Philipé
to Philip,
Mac Douglas
       to Douglas,

like tiny Puritans
secreting husk-shaped
     mounds,
       like Pilgrimmite
to Pilgrim
or Colonnite
       to Colonist.

   Bless our vetted cornucopias.
We pray their sound
is sonorous
enough to be     acceptable
   to your liking.

We’ll offer fluttering
       hymnals sung
 in supplication.
Like your beauty star
              butterflies,
we have done it for years.

Clarissa Adkins is an MFA candidate in poetry at Lesley University as well as an intern reader for Sugar House Review. She is co-author of the book Chair Yoga for You, a Practical Guide.

Illustration by Paul Hostetler