On Contemplating the Beauty of an Animal Skull Picked Clean Or Fifteen Hundred Dermestid Beetles Available on Amazon $49.11 & Free Shipping

The Great Chain of Being

begins with God

ends with dirt.

Beetles rank below the pretty insects

like ladybugs and dragonflies

and behind useful insects,

the spiders and the honeybees.

Dermestid beetles occupy

the "unpleasant insect" place,

which puzzles me.

If cleanliness is next to godliness,

this beetle clean-up crew should get its due.

Oh, the wonders of the secret chambers

​they can masticate through--even me, even you