The Cretaceous Terror of Insects*

A sonnet about the littlest dinosaur

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Oculudentavis will not just glide
off the tongue like Tyrannosaurus Rex
and velociraptors would never pride
themselves on being terror of insects,
as I’m called. Even a stegosaurus
would look down in disdain at what I eat
and a triceratops would never suss
out why a sharp-toothed, tiny bird like me
would puff out my chest and happily soar
above the muggy fields they wade through like
drudges. I know there’s no glory to roar
and rumble, stuck on the flat ground. I strike
my prey like lightning and wing my way free,
the cruelest predator never to be seen.

*nickname for the dinosaur Oculudentavis, given by Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, which is considered the smallest dinosaur: .