Fig

The fig persists
in spite of the curse
upon it,
stubborn and green,
made to hide
its flowers
within the pod
so that the wasp
must burrow
to lay her eggs,
pollinate
the delicious
host,
and die after
shedding
her antennae
and wings,
a Kamikaze
with one purpose,
never to return;
her male progeny
hatch first,
wingless and blind
to mate unwittingly
with their own
sisters,
then chew a tunnel
to the light,
leaving the mother
to melt way
in the fleshy pulp
for daring to defy
a god.

Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio, resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His last collections of poems are entitled, "Meteors," Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books.