Tettigonia

High above the toilet
it flaps and hops against the window
I reach to it gently
take it into my grasp
and carry it soft to the camp site
where the fire roars
in my palm I expose it
verdant and to my drunk eyes
trembling there green
silhouetted in orange bon-flame
a quick jerk of my wrist
and it flutters off
toward the nearest twisted maple
as marijuana and alcohol
tug me sleepwise

In the morning sunrise
out of the tent
I find the kadydid again
this time
crawling a crimson towel
hung from the tree
drawn to it in the night
like a bull to the cape
green long-horns clung desperate to red
and I wonder-worry
worrinder what
if maybe me
befell that bug
was the bathroom
its dying wish
the place where it chose
its life to surrender
the elephant burial ground of the cricket
and away I took it
to be confused unto death
by fire and human hands
and towels the color of fire