Billy Marshall Stoneking

Their genus is insatiable: Labroides dimitiatus.
They feed in schools.
Working close to the gills,
they scavenge food from the mouths of other fishes.
The females follow the male. They go where he goes.
Resistance is out of the question.
There is no thought of subverting his authority.
Freedom is not part of their vocabulary.
There is no alliance against this
ancient single-mindedness.
Instead,
the females form a pecking order under him.
When the male dies, the alpha female takes his place.
The cells of her flesh revolt.
The bony sockets in her skull are too small for the eyes.
She grows larger, acquires male organs...
mysteriously,
another female arrives.

© Billy Marshall Stoneking