kloiterra

yesterday i was standing out front of my place having a smoke
and i noticed a mantis on the door frame of the adjoining unit.
i went over and said hi, and held out my hand.
then i noticed that there was another one.
i picked them both up and inspected them closely
while they did the same to me
from the enormous floating platform of my palm.

this morning i was standing out front of my place having a smoke
and i noticed the two mantids were still there.
i went over and said hi
and repeated the previous day's inspection.

this afternoon, i was sitting inside reading
when i heard an excited laughter out front.
i pressed my face to the door and peeked through the peephole
to see two overly excited young women--
potential new neighbors--
they were whooping and squealing,
destroying the mantises with a flip-flop.
curses.