ALLISON CAMP

DERMESTID DREAMS OF DECAY

‘The Dermestid Beetle, sometimes referred to as a carpet or skin beetle, belongs to the family Dermesidate. This beetle species feeds on dry-moist animal material, ensuring that decaying and dead flesh is recycled. Invariably these beetles will show up at a carcass to aid in decomposition…’ — Skull Taxidermy

My dear,

cold dead damp

rotting at roadside,

a generous splay.

Your sweet stench

lures me. Intoxicating

cadaverine and putrescine,

pungent perfume which I fancy

ambergris envies.

My probing mouth lovingly caresses

each metacarpal, vertebral arch.

No pulp evades my insatiable maw.

My wormy form burrows under your fur

in gluttonous consumption.

A grotesque Hungry Caterpillar.

Your crevices are scraped

clean in my wake,

elegant bones gleam white.

Now, you are gone, my decomposing darling.

I will hide -- secret, sealed,

corporeal melt, dream of decay.

The circularity is not lost on me.

Jumbled soup congeals,

my form recombines,

your muscle now mine.

Spotted elytra and wings unfurl.

I fly to find you again.

THE COMFORT OF KNOWING

I know what your death with be like

the moth whispered to the bird in its sleep

The bird was not listening, but one eye cracked open

as the sound of rustling scaled wings

floated from the edge of the high-perched nest

It will be hard and loud

You won’t see it coming

Your body will break and seize

All over within one minute

The bird was listening now

wondering how the green moth

with spots like eyes could know

and what compelled him to bestow

such morbid intel by moonlight

You are lucky to die like this

No cataclysmic super storm

No drought-fueled starvation

Simply a fatal and fast-acting injury

disoriented discomfort before nothingness

The bird felt somewhat consoled

and resigned to its broken neck fate

gently closed its white-rimmed eyes

fluffed its tawny breast and humble brown wings

and nestled deeper into its bed of feathers and twigs

Satisfied, the moth fluttered away

on the soft breeze of a summer night

hindwings curling with each beat

antennae whirling to pick up the scent

of the next bird to enlighten

Allison Camp is a Washington State native now living and working in North Carolina. Allison is a trained scientist and received her doctoral degree from North Carolina State University in 2018. She has authored 10 peer-reviewed publications within the realms of entomology and toxicology. She currently works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Outside of work, she revels in the South's incredible biodiversity and spends time with her family.