Pretty is as pretty does

If that’s so, I’m surely hideous.
My nature as a babe in water
is entirely predaceous.
My appetite’s immense and my jaws
are fabulous. I need to gobble minnows,
and add them to my substance!

Ugly when little, pretty when grown

When summer comes, I ascend on reeds.
I leave the pond to unfold…
my abdomen’s dotted with turquoise…
My emerald thorax glows!
A testament of color – all the creatures I swallowed
live rejoicing in my cells!

Sue Blaustein is the author of “In the Field, Autobiography of an Inspector”. Her publication credits can be found at www.sueblaustein.com. Sue retired from the Milwaukee Health Department in 2016. She blogs for Ex Fabula , serves as an interviewer/writer for the “My Life My Story” program at the Zablocki VA Medical Center.