The guests are here, the preacher’s ready
The branch will hold them sure and steady
All the Manti raise their arms to pray
It is praying mantis wedding day!

A catered repast of chirping crickets
And linen spread atop the thickets
A band of cicadas click and pulse
As if some secret dare not divulge

The bride with her bridesmaids shut away
The groom pleads his groomsmen only stay
Preacher has seen that pale look before
He holds sway at funerals just past that door

A katydid serves as magistrate
Without the time for lawyers’ debate
Never pushed for Corpus Delicti 
All the X-Ray bills would be so high

Now the bride creeps out of her hollow
Many more days like this to follow
No father to walk her down the twig
Since Mother was the one who was big

Females by far outnumber the males
Though the wedding planner never fails
Guests hold their breath during the first dance
Bride getting ready to take her stance

Black Widow’s there to study some tips
Maybe then she’ll add pounds to her hips
There’s jumping spider by leaps and bounds
Olympic moment will soon be round

And now they exchange their wedding vows
Her look of love is sincere – for now
Reception never the groom could match
It’s the wedding night that is the catch

Funny how the bride won’t touch the cake
Not an overeater for God’s sake
Guests click thorax for couple to kiss
A fearful prospect should timing miss

Out of the chapel into the bliss
Let’s hope Nature’s odds might only miss
Throw a few grains of rice the bride’s way
Maybe fill her belly anyway

And change the course of nature’s design
Then maybe we will all get in line
And perhaps Bride turns the other cheek
So we can see Groom at Little League

               ____________


Reports are back from the wedding night
The maitre d’hotel had such a fright
While of check-in worries there were none
Check-out saw happy couple less one

It seems preacher must preside once more
Hoping they stock lilies at flower store
Wedding guests soon will be fed again
With leftovers where the wedding’s been

Wedding planner’s a busy centipede
Won’t let mourning on business impede
And since Mother Nature runs this place
He’ll have no problem renting this space

_______________________________________________________________

Among the rocks and reefs of the Indian and Pacific
With anemone of every imaginable color
And some unimaginable
{That’s when the innocent need to keep their lookout}
Their eyes can fool
And so can you

With bulging eyes seeking a meal ticket
You wait and wait and wait
For them to come to you
When the squid and the ray are out on the hunt
You bedazzle them with fool’s gold
-and purple, magenta, fuscia – what have you?
No one ever said you couldn’t dress to kill.

All dressed up and nowhere to go?
That’s your scheme; isn’t it?
No need for the song and dance,
the flirtation, or the chase
just… sit… and... wait

Here comes an unsuspecting Triggerfish
More beautiful than you, wearing its colors proudly
And you so envious of that; your flag is the one of any nation
You happen to be embedded in
And there Trigger swims by
You lurch your already-upturned head
{Nature designed you a pair of binoculars}
Before I can even start this sentence
That Trigger now looks like a Japanese flag
                _______________

You and I know how afraid you are though
Of the shark and the ray and the eel
The honesty of their acts
So, equipped with your venom needles you can,
If lucky, make your point
And live another day
Score one for camouflage
                ________________

Sometimes though I see you poised for the lunge.
Your neck – if you had a neck- and those limpid orbs
Cocked back with all that store of a thousand disappointments
Missed parties while you were brooding in the muck
Even resentful of the sand dollars, who never bother anyone

But you appear just now and then to hesitate
Which in your breed’s case means one tenth of a second
And let your meal almost scud by
Until you change your mind and do what you do best
In that decasecond –against everything you stand for and The Great Design
– and at no advantage to you -
You are action and not meditation

Unless some doubt feeds on you
On why you look today like the sand
And tomorrow like the reef
Why you’re the Julie Taymor of costume design
And what it would mean to leave the bottom
Change your colors
And take the appearance of…
A stonefish