The Bloc #3 | On the Mating Process

On the Mating Process
by Robert Laughlin

The young of each animal’s kind are begot
From violent urges—gentle they’re not.
One man clouts another who smiles at his girl;
A ram gives his ewe to a heavier curl;
A dolphin is raped by a bachelor herd;
An amorous spider’s demise is ensured.
What, all this brutality just to be mated?
Then being a plant is much underrated.

ROBERT LAUGHLIN lives in Chico, California. He is the creator of the Micro Award, an annual competition for previously published flash fiction. Two of his short stories are MWA Notable Stories, and his first novel, Vow of Silence, is available from Trytium.

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