ACCIDENTALS
by Jessica DePue

There were a few hermit crabs
Molting, needing new homes
They'll adapt to anything
(Empty coke cans, the odd
Martini glass left upside down)
Just to keep covered
Too often thrown out
Dormancy resembles death
To those unfamiliar
The crab gets trashed
Along with crushed coke cans,
Broken glass
Just like the orchid
In it's final phase of bloom
It's last leaf lost
Look at that stem
Holding up solitary bracing
It's next cyclic emergence
First winter toils, threats
Externally the plant takes risks
Left to withstand time's cruel delay
With roots strongly gripping
Spring's latent signals
The orchid survives influx
Just like you awaiting
A new shell to bud anew
In your faceless presence I've adhered
To steady law of deductive reasoning I've
Cleaned house cleared space
These voids you dwell from
Seem lackluster lifeless
I've gathered hoisted this invisible
Force over my shoulder hurled
You out with the rest of it
Like a stale crab, browning orchid
Mistakenly uprooted gone for good
Their simple lives permanently displaced
Unlike such accidentals
You keep coming back