good samaritan

d. ellis phelps

September 8, 2024

she couldn’t bear

to see him suffer

after he hit her head-on

she hadn’t seen him coming:

in a flash he smashed

against the glass

his exoskeleton

his transparent wings

his check-mark legs

—still wriggling      pinned 

          under the windshield 

wiper

      ~

she tried to fling him free

with a swipe and a swish

but no      he wouldn’t

he couldn’t         let go

& so      she slowed

pulled to the side

of the road

carefully lifting the wiper’s blade

she came to the helpless 

grasshopper’s aid

gingerly pried him from the glass

to toss him into the roadside grass

but then:

a flick of his prickly legs

      she shrieked

      she freaked

& she jumped back

      ~

she did not see the coming truck

the driver swerved

she had good luck

but for the inches that saved her life

she might have died

for love      

of a bug

d. ellis phelps’ work has appeared widely online and in print. She is the author of four poetry collections and one novel and the editor of Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press (MSSP) and of the digital journal fws:  international journal of literature & art where she publishes the work of others.