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Writer's pictureBulb Culture Collective

Paramecium by Wren Donovan

I do have boundaries.

I am enclosed, but porous. Permeable

and edged with moving lashes

like some alien eye. Ectoplasm, endoplasm,

organelles and nuclei, two blind spots.

Stellated jelly packet. Vacuoles.

I drink up my surroundings, eat by

(what is it called) phagocytosis.


Most people like amoebas more

but I prefer the fuzzy slipper.

Single-celled and ciliated, classed

eukaryotic (great Greek word).

I wiggle underneath your lens, pinned

in your light, a water creature liquid and

translucent. When starved I may resort to sex.

Well-fed I will keep to myself, and fissure.


Originally published by Diphthong Lit, 2022


Wren Donovan’s poetry appears or is upcoming in Emerge Literary Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, Harpy Hybrid Review, Green Ink Poetry, Moist Poetry, and elsewhere in print and online. Two chapbooks are forthcoming: one inspired by myth and fairy tales, the second on themes of embodiment, broken-ness, and remains/remaining. Wren also reads Tarot, practices dance meditation, and talks to cats. She lives in Tennessee and lurks on twitter @WrenDonovan. Published work at wrendonovan.weebly.com.


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