sheltering

my husband invited
1,000 house guests
to live with us
—indefinitely—
milling, burrowing,
their home is
in the bathroom,
a tub within a tub—
they have eclectic
preferences
vegetable ends
fruit leavings
even coffee grounds—

hidden away in
a dark, moist world
their hum of
endless chewing,
little rototillers
transforming
dirt into soil
a very precious gift—
eisenia fetida
red wigglers
why is it that
I squirm myself?