swiss-army knife fingers
smear blood berry jam
preserves stick to cement
even road worms wiggle away
from burst skin spread
glimpse a scavenger sniff
paws peeling up remnants
and flick gravel off with claws
scrape sound of stone and nail
tongue poked out to taste then
dropped back down to decay
left to bake on pavement
like terracotta-red clay
feel nostalgia ache for
thumbed xylophone ribs
sticking spider leg lashes
gold hair spun nests
moth wing skin cells
now reduced to crepe layers
tire-pressed into pavement
By Eileen Ellis