The life cycle of drosophila melanogaster,
also known as the common fruit fly,
consists of copulation, which lasts 15-20 minutes, then the females
lay approximately 400 eggs, 5 at a time, into rotting fruit or mushrooms.
The entire lifespan of a fruit fly is 30 days or fewer: a mere month.
Call me sentimental, but I’m a sucker for apocalypse stories.
I’m sorry about your cancer, but if you only had a month to live,
I’d call you up and play Scrabble with you and let you win
even if you spelled stupid words like cake and beltloop and toxic waste.
They say it’s metastasized to the rest of your body.
I wouldn’t get mad at you even if you voted for Mitt Romney
in the next presidential election. In high school everyone always joked
about how fucking a cancer patient is like fucking a zombie,
but I don’t give a damn about your bald head. You look handsome
with or without hair. And on your last day,
when the fruit flies are closing their eyes
and their wings are slowing to a halt,
I’ll let you fall asleep on my shoulder
so I can capture your last breaths in a jar.