by david rakoff

"The Tortoise, too late, understood that he'd blundered,
when he felt his flesh stabbed and his carapace sundered.
As he fought for life he said, 'Tell me why you have done this,
for now we will surely both die!'
'I don't know!' cried the Scorpion,
'You never should trust a creature like me,
because poison I must. I'd claim some remorse or at least some compunction,
but I just can't help it, my form is my function!
You thought I'd behave like my cousin the crab-
unlike him, it is but my nature to stab.'
The Tortoise expired with one final quiver,
And then both of them sank, swallowed up by the river.

The Tortoise was wrong to ignore all his doubts,
because in the end, friends, our natures will out."




THINGS I AM INTERESTED IN LATELY

Tapirs sit like dogs and don't have an entry in T9




TERROR BIRDS




"If you ever find a bird trying to hang out on the ground, step on it. We don't want its descendants giving birth to giant man-eating flightless babies."



Shapeshifters