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The Lark

The Lark shares fictional short stories and poetry

Member-only story

POETRY

Pendant Excursion #1

A poem

1 min readMar 1, 2026

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Image by Doctor Tinieblas from Unsplash

We draw our penises everywhere
But they are far from accurate

The ichneumon wasp’s ovipositor
Is twice the length of the insect
Yet it does not draw crude pictures
On the scaly bark of Silver Maples.

Also, she is female, but I won’t say that explains it— 
Or that the male is smaller and has no ovipositor.

An efficient way to transfer genetic material
Without just blowing it in the female’s direction
Or leaving it on a stalk and hoping she takes an interest

Rome of the Caesars boasted penile frescoes
And mosaics, and sculpted and carved and rubbed
Them in the bath — always exaggerated — often with Vesuvius-like eruptions
That dripped down like hydraulic cement
The Romans invented hydraulic cement

Paleo Man didn’t conjure that many penises –
He is carving Venus from soapstone while the
Women paint urgent red vulvae amidst predators

Everyone except Jesus scribbles his penis on odd walls
While insouciant of its elegant function of perpetuation

God is not the details and could not, I guess,
Perfectly predict a hyperfixation with His intromittent organ
Maddening, and just as imperfectly erect in Heaven.

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