A special edition for Motif’s Fiction and Poetry issue
Running along the boardwalk
on the way to the shore,
In two’s and in three’s, racing
on their way, Crematogaster
sisters, acrobats with heart.
The farmers brought us out
to see the mystery, a crop
had been targeted, thirsty
broccoli, the youngest
sprouts, Tetramorium encircled.
Clinging to the bottom of
a small boulder small and
black, almost entirely invisible
Myrmecina, cryptic but textured,
residents on the roll.
Cinnabar creps, witch’s
butter, and hexagonal polypores,
Deana finds the Aphaenogaster
hiding inside every gill, when they
fungal foray and festival slay.
Antennae curving to insertion, or
bent abruptly, with a notched
clypeus or curving propodeal spines,
One character at a time, Myrmica
unidentified.
It’s easy to feel small
and helpless, with never-ending
war and evil all around.
But under foot and the weight
of the world, the ants still
make their homes together, they
still breathe —
and so too, should we.
Illustration by Danika Valentine and with thanks to Skyler Jay. Follow Dr. Jane and her research lab on Instagram @antlabpvd or on the web www.lovetheants.org.