Not unlike its namesake, Toadzilla was viewed as a grave threat to its

               surroundings. With this in mind, the giant toad was ‘humanely euthanized…’

               –Aina J. Khan, NBC News, January 2023.

 

Six-pound otherworldly maiden. Lumpy fairy mother. Emerald cannibal.

Your skin hangs, olive-spotted, tulle over your knees. Your eyes mosaic

crocodile jasperscales. Scientists take you to Australia as Sugar Guards

to conquer beetles. Mostly you feast. Scarf sweet honeyeaters. Graped

eye pouches poison the northern quoll extinct. You wreck rainbow

bee-eater bird nests. Australia transforms to your castle and buffet.

Maybe they couldn’t let you live, you opal heap of fleshy thunk. You’re too much

for us, but you’re invited to mushroom discos in my Garden. We can dance

under looming toadstool neon. Jellyfish mushrooms fish the sky’s stars. Lavender smoke veils the tops of trees, reaches to canopy, caresses knitted

fly-stars clipped to leaves. Hollow beetles hang as windchime

lovers. Flashing fireflies on strings swing and sway. Wildflower cane toads

moonwalk in white go-go boots. These toads and I want you, Toadzilla.

We warm you from frozen slumber. Wake you with a sweet strawberry

iced tea. We smoke a joint on a stump. You sit in my lap to eat a plate of macaroni.

You wear your purple blanket like a cape and adjust your flower crown.