Kelley Jean White Got Bugs Dancing All Out My Walls Been Home Alone Too Long Blues after "Beef & Salts Photos: Bugs," The Arturo Portillo Project, 2006 I got seventeen crickets They ain't supposed to have wings Seventeen crickets With winking Reynolds Wrap wings They keep clicking by my doorknob Waiting to steal my house door keys I'd introduce you to Connie But she's Mitch's ball-and-chain I 'd make her show you her thorax But Mitch is learning how to sting See he might have been a drone then You know she used to be a queen I saw Carl and Margie Down at the wholesale five and nine Carl was buying Margie A frying pan and turpentine I don't want to think about them Making my stove work overtime You know Winnie was a grub once Lived under a stone with Mark and Saul She got heavier and slower Then Orlando came to call Mark got curled up and thigmotactic Orlando carried Saul out alone Marianne met Rex It was summer, light and hot When the fall came she got hungry Laid some eggs inside a log Rex came by, said baby you can eat me Marianne said I don 't mind at all I got twenty-seven crickets Flying in my candlelight Twenty-seven crickets Waving red sparklers in my night I do believe they found my wallet I heard them start the car and drive

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