by shaun lawton
When not the world but a continent
not the land but a mountain range
when not the sprawl of wilderness
but a street corner in a dusty town
and not even the whole village
but one home
one room
a single wooden table
an ordinary ripened banana
half covered in brown spots
just the withering stem
having drawn four small ants
not the whole colony
but one single ant
not the entire insect
nor it's complex head
but one antennae
not the total length
but one segment
crawling with microbiota
it's not the universe
teeming with galaxies
or some final horizons
curling back with the tides
to start the cycle anew
that rings true
no, it's just you
