Like millions before him ⁣
this one arrives at 3am, drawn
as they always are, ⁣
to the hum and the cold light⁣
⁣
I watch from behind the refrigerator ⁣
The way I have watched everything ⁣
the meteor, the dinosaurs, ⁣
his Monday mornings⁣
⁣
He opens the door ⁣
and the light catches his eyes ⁣
which contains the feeling of ⁣
guilt before it turns into hate⁣
⁣
He eats a cream of ice ⁣
without making a sound ⁣
as if the silence makes him invisible⁣
But I know invisible, not this puny human⁣
⁣
Sixty-feet-long creatures, ⁣
unaware of our existence, ⁣
trampling us all⁣
without awareness⁣
⁣
Not even the dignity of hatred, ⁣
just the vast indifference of something ⁣
that believed it would be here forever⁣
Then our Gods of darkness sent rocks of fire ⁣
⁣
But at least the human hates me ⁣
when he reaches for his weapon ⁣
a slipper, ironically soft-soled⁣
He thinks he is sly, but I am no fly ⁣
⁣
I feel the air shift before his arm has decided anything⁣
I have time to consider the whole of puny human history ⁣
before stepping, unhurried, into the wall⁣
and remember fondly one of his brethren, Kafka⁣
⁣
Before I report this event to my colony ⁣
I leave him one thought in a language ⁣
older than his gods ⁣
“You are no dinosaur“

Art by Vedran Stimac

NaPoWriMo Day 5 –  Today, your challenge is to take a page from Catullus and Darwin, and write a poem in which you talk about disliking something – particularly something utterly innocuous, like clover. Be over the top! Be a bit silly and overdramatic.

I subverted the prompt by writing the poem from the cockroach’s perspective on humans hating them.