worm sex

when worms have sex
they line their bodies up side-by-side
like twin exhausts
billowing out of a steady plane.

fascinated,
i read webpages about
“simultaneous hermaphroditism”
“slime tubes”
“segments 9, 10, and 11”
and
the “clitellum” 

then dug at wet soil with bare hands,
like a pervert,
to see for myself.

the last time you and i 
were prone in proximity
i didn’t know about the worms yet.
i was preoccupied with other things,
like the dinner menu
and being loved in grand ways.

i wasn’t aware
that lying next to each other
is a goal of its own.

i envy the worms,
who have less to prove
and get to wriggle peacefully 
in the dirt all around us.