THESEUS’S WORM

by henry harriman

“a worm’s cadaveric spasm is indistinguishable from its regular movements to the un-
wormology-trained eye” – Center for Wormology at Noosey State

when we were kids someone taught us
that you can split a worm
and it turns into two worms
that keep on living their worm lives.
we thought we were doing them a favor,
my brother and me, creating abundance.
creating worm brothers for brothers,
entire families of worms overjoyed to see —
the opposite of war where sons don’t come home —
two of the boy who left home returning to worm mom’s door.
we were thrilled with the idea of creating
by destroying and that at any moment
we too may be rended
into whole new people
wrest from our murderous innocence —
were they twins? the two wriggling halves
in our minds would they think the same,
love the same movies? and worm women?
does one need glasses? is one half the boy
who was there before
is the other half a new boy
or are they both new?
is one a man now
from remembering being chopped? no,
we learned later, not men just
dead worms
the eventual knowledge of which
sent one brother running home in tears

& the other on a dicing spree

henry harriman is a writer, musician, and library worker from the make-believe land of chicago, il.