Category: insects
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Lament #17
I read cicadas will be plentiful this summer Returning from long quarantine underground I miss the high descant keening above tree frog choruses I miss life begging come sit with me before we die I miss the closeness of being alive 6-19-20
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Vignettes from Friday’s fire pit
Junk mail and old receipts make good kindling From the end of a rotted log a beetle crawls out Stands on a brick and races off before it gets too hot On its way to the park a calico with a belled collar walks quietly through your yard A woman walks by on the street…
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no anesthesia
Spiraled black-speckled flypaper waves in the wind from the porch For family summer picnic fun on the farm flies trapped in glue, struggle till they die Chickens, a pig and a cow are slaughtered deviled eggs, tomatoes and green beans prepared Rocky mountain oysters sit fried in a bowl on the table Harvested from ball…
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Tombo tanka
skims above water flits in and out of sunlight seeks for love or food summer’s iridescent djinn our lily frond faerie muse 4-22-20
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Entomology 2020
While I sat alone on a bench in the park a red mite walked across a page of Billy Collins poetry I fail to see any humor in this violation of my safe distancing – I don’t care about his politics or need to be seen Twenty-five years still remain on this flesh-suit warranty and…
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walk in the woods on a sunny morning
what is this science this magic that breaks rocks for food pulls water into thin air gathers light from sky hides a beetle from a bird that leaps from a branch soars towards the sun 4-15-20
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Alexander the Dead
Alexander lies abandoned no Bucephalus or Hephaestion golden shield, sword or lion cape Once he was the chosen one blood and gore – spoils of war rally the troops, the rabble and hangers on He died of a malarial fever his corpse a tourist attraction at the mouth of the Nile Now he lies in…
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‘Grade School Pedagogy’ or ‘Early childhood development’
Days in the sun running through fields Pillow case butterfly net on a bent wire hanger nailed and tied to a stick Alcohol swab in a jar watch them twitch and die Stick with pin while body is soft and label for a grade 11-7-19
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Sycamore ants
In our back yard at the base of a sycamore tree lived brown ants – I would feed them cake crumbs and cinnamon sugar toast on sunny summer afternoons Watch them swarm and carry it away dry days, I would sprinkle water on the ground evenings, I watched them crawl up the bark higher than…
My husband's poetry 