Hands
A hand rough with callouses, pushes little indents in the soft brown soil. A chubby dimpled fist drops two or three seeds in each little hole. Every day, those hands carefully water the seedlings. They shoot up fast and strong. But the hands stop coming. The young plants struggle to push their roots through the drying soil. Soon, the yellowed leaves shiver in the blistering breeze. Their shriveled stems cling desperately to the stalk. The entire plant is stunted. No flowers have bloomed. No fruit has ripened.
Finally, the chubby hands return and trace a dimpled finger over the dying crops. A soft pair of hands that the plants have never seen before pinches a leaf between the forefinger and thumb and plucks it. It shows the leaf to the small one. "Aphids on the underside."
Farm
Ants farm aphids,
If you did not know.
They herd and work aphids
As we do cattle,
An old man once told me
Over a cafeteria lunch.
Nodding, I tried to move away
Politely, or so I thought.
’Get away from me,
You old man,’ said I,
Though only to myself.
‘You old lousy, creepy farmer.’
I spoke none of this, still,
He wore an expression
Like a simple child,
A sad hound dog pup,
And I knew he could feel
My seething hatred of him.
’Bee Kind,’ said his hat.
How am I such a cruel young woman?
Men I fear, but bugs and beasts—
They are much scarier than
Poor Old Joe
Aphids on the Underside
3, 2, 1….. Clang! Clang!
And just look at those feisty aphids on the underside of the Giant Hickory bark!
Watch the crowd of onlookers as their mouths drop during this fiasco!
Oh ho ho!
This speed-eating contest is by far
an all-out slob-fest!
And these wee, tiny pests are suckling like little madmen
for the sweet, sticky sap
that drips on the nether halves of these bark loaves,
to see who can achieve first place
for expanding their perky, pear-shaped bellies to that of a prickly-pineapple figure!
30 seconds left!
Here we go now on to the final ticks of the clock!
And for all of us gathered here at Bluefern Forest to encourage the festivities,
we have come to find ourselves
drenched in the saliva-goo that escapes the lips within this hungry chow-down!
Blah! (Who would’ve thought to bring an umbrella?!)
5 seconds to go!
And 3, 2, 1! Cling! Cling!
WE HAVE A WINNER!
Please, stand up, young, yellow fellow!
Ladies and gentlemen, your new champion of speed-bark-eating in the Aphid category:
Alphonse Beech!
Let this be an honor to you, young speckle,
for rightly did you entertain the eager audience today!
For Dear Life
the aphid sees itself
as it hangs
eye candy,
for the lady birds
like a ripe emerald
pendulant around
the apple of the throat
a repulsive delight
sees itself
suspended
by spindly feet as
a dew drop reflects
the circumstance
of holding on
by a straw,
recognized
for what it is,
by human passersby's
05.19.2024
Aphids on the Underside challenge @Last
Aphids on the Underside
aphids on the underside
as the sun rises, a fleeting moment
of serenity before the riptide
lady bug on a windowsill
make a wish, your breath
caused a hurricane in its world
it’s all relative, this
moment in time
aphids on the underside
or, how does life look
when a bigger force, an ocean
of waves, can literally
wipe your existence away
when each second
is a lifetime, your life expectancy
just one day, you would
hang out where no one
can see you, too, and fly away