Big Cat Goat Snake Fire

The things you get up to with us,
With our help! How you rip the past

To bits, one of us matched to each
With some of that spit you’ve named glue,

The bonds of kin, friends, love, and tongues.
You build a huge nest from our mess—

Thanks to us, the past to you is
What hair, leaves, and twigs are to birds

And pack rats, the cage shreds of mice,
The odd, coy shells used by shy crabs,

Just raw stuff to tear up and weave
For homes, for lairs, for masks, for cells—

And now look what you do with cells,
Not just mixed names—live, mixed-up cells,

Some of you and some of a pig,
Some of an ape, a bit of frog,

A mouse that glows, dished brains that grow
And squinch up to hunch through poured gel.

And to think it was you, the beast
Of groups, of teams, each with its rules

To keep the clan pure, that keen need
To purge the group of all strange dirts

That might blow in. And here we were,
Your words, some too pure, some pure filth,

Those ones too much to say out loud.
We helped you build this cross-wired world

That will now turn and break you down.
Kai. Mare. Ah. All one, your past, now.