notdeermag
Bug Spray, Caleb F. Stocco
Updated: Mar 10, 2022
CW: insects
i don’t want to be alone
in a home
teeming with insects.
satyr butterflies
and carpenter moths
eating the insides of walls
eating the wires in the walls
and biting their own companions.
rabid.
beetles come out
of the faucets
when water is summoned.
they flow like the bees
that swarm
near the half opened jar
of honey
crystallised
in the kitchen
foreign to them,
for it is not theirs
but theirs is the desire
to dip their yellow wings -
carbon paper thin -
into the amber resin.
toadbugs feast
on the fresh fruit
and the rotten apples,
strawberries, oranges.
the fridge is infested
with weevils.
rabid.
violin spiders
redback spiders
crawl over and under
the floor.
they cover
the ladybugs
and the windows
in tangled webs.
rabid. again.
when i open the door,
i struggle not to disrupt
the quiet of the wasp nest
in the foyer.
i'm allergic.
when i sleep,
i can feel them
on my skin,
on my eyelids,
on my lips,
and i stay still.
i lie still.
i repress the urge to
shake
them
all
off
i'm a rock,
covered in moss,
they will
bite
if they know i'm not.
i can't
shake
them
all
off.
i am covered in webs and insects
that i cannot shake off.
Caleb F. Stocco (he/they) is an eighteen-year-old Italian student from Venice. Caleb is queer (gay and angry at the idea of gender), and their favourite hobbies are listening to an absurd amount of music, and photography, specifically editorial and fashion-oriented photoshoots.