A map of Tokyo
overlaid with sterile agar plate,
oatflakes sown at stations.
Inoculate with single speck of slime,
wait for a time-lapse tale to unfold.
Grey-green cabbage-leaf cutis
blooms out like fine-veined cobweb,
a reconnoitring laminate
getting a feel for food.
Nutrients located, targets locked,
the fine mesh fades, metamorphoses
through invisible molecular messages
to a pulsing creep of yellow
feed-focused tentacles,
taking the most efficient tack
between fuelling stops.
Paid-off network planners
put out to grass,
replaced with bee-lining slime
that takes the direct route.