Don’t be afraid of the worms.
Sure, the transitional period
is smelly, disgusting, and vile,
but, in the long run, who wants
to be a mummy: “intact” but
waxy and desiccated, a bad
joke version of your live self,
when you can be chewed and –
yes – excreted into good, dark,
rich, nutritious earth: food for
daffodils.
Poem by Sam Magavern
A public interest lawyer in Buffalo, New York, Sam Magavern is the author of a non-fiction book, Primo Levi’s Universe: a Writer’s Journey (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and a book of poetry, Noah’s Ark (BlazeVOX, 2014); he is also featured in Four Buffalo Poets (Outriders, 2016). His poems have been published in many journals, including Poetry, Paris Review, and Antioch Review. Long active in environmental issues, he was honored in 2014 as the Adirondack Mountain Club Niagara Frontier Chapter Conservationist of the Year.