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