Vermin!

Peter Mina Gayed, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Your core confuses my being
and undermines my worth,
because of your trapped insides
i pace the hallways unable to understand.

No two leaves are the same,
and so goes your core
it stems and turns, and turns again
enveloping itself in enigmatic complexity.

Your shell layers like strata
and protects you from the wish-wash
of pounding beats and splitting blows,
but the core can be exposed!

By the blade, its sheer silver and shine
shakes the foundation
and soon I'll unearth what's tucked away,
what's been kept so selfishly.

Pulling away the core can be damaging
but it is also cleansing-a process of purification
and finally, you separate and I can marvel
and fit you back into place because I am satisfied.

Removed but replaced, divided but uniform,
the core remains as it was,
the tiny brain, the cerebellum.