Impelled by alien, near-insensate hunger,

an ugly slug leaves compost to devour

a garden's newborn lupine---should I wonder

that it seeks satiation in a flower?

Delectable, expensive berry pie,

lit up by tapers, served on patterned plate,

hides multitudes of mold threads, poised and silent,

and in their victims indiscriminate.

About the house a rustling in the night

is unlike wind or rain—it's uninflected

but growing louder. Living deep inside

are feasting ants: the very frame's infested.