I discovered him in the doorway
Stuck between In Here and Out There.
Trapped between worlds
He crawled along the threshold
Unwilling to choose.
I paused In Here,
holding coat, keys, briefcase -
the contents of my life.
I watched the earwig's defiant refusal
to conform to the world – either world.
But is he unwilling or unable to choose?
Does fear paralyze him? Does he walk along
my threshold, because he cannot afford
to make yet another mistake?
Do his clicking mandibles, (which I took
for angry self-proclamation)
mask a profound insect incertitude?
I watched the earwig in the doorway
bound between worlds
and suddenly the contents of my life
became very heavy.
Without thinking, by instinct,
I set them down on the threshold
and in one bold, Darwinian act
made the selection for him.
Then, I sat down in the doorway
Unwilling, or unable, to move.
