Ant Rivers

The scariest thing about summer and

spring are the ant rivers.

Seemingly out of nowhere and sudden as

a shot, they disturb you to the point it

inspires you to write a poem, you've

been meaning to, and it's been 3 years.

When they show up it's a guessing game, 

and all of a sudden make getting out of

bed to get a drink of water in the middle of

the night a risk, sometimes even during the day

To avoid tracking ants on your skin and

picking up any unwanted intruders, you

can't really feel them, you shuffle your feet

on the rug upon entering or exiting a room,

stepping carefully, avoiding the thick line

of invaders branching out from some

unknown crevice in the floor, a new needle

sized hole to seal, branching out in one

main wave and a few lesser flowing side

paths like an estuary or hiking trail

Avoiding the main line is easy enough, but

with carpenter ants, who have disturbingly

long walking trails and come back year

after year, or are they even? they look like

regular ants but a bit bigger, sans the few

large black generals that occasionally bob

in the frey, the biggest black ants you've

ever seen, any step around the river is a 

landmine and means you are treading the 

sea

Yes, a sea of ants.

Separate from the river flows a loosely

distributed sea of scouts, each on their

own individual mission to map the kitchen

floor, walking trails vast and never ending

Each tiny step forward is a potential

collision

And finally you have your water

What a relief

Never mind the trash can

When you wake up if you're lucky the 

menaces will be gone, for now, swept

away by Asian hands, with a tan colored

straw broom

It must be an interesting experience to be

an ant then, getting swept away with your

brothers and sisters before you can finish

devouring the prize, you're never too small

to be swished?, and dumped into the

plastic bag with the kitchen trash and

exiled to the yard, as if we couldn't escape

For sone reason we love stressed out

houseplants, old faintly perfumed 

cardboard boxes, sink faucets and drains,

water, we all float here, toilet seats,

countertops, and white walls...

We dislike baby powder, essential oils,

diatomaceous earth, soapy water,

cornstarch, and cinnamon?

Windowsills are our favorite, as those are

the places where we first started, and it is

impossible to keep us out

Stubborn as we are, we always regroup

and return within a few hours, and it takes

an army to keep us away

Putting out ant fires is exhausting, and you

really feel the strain of what it's like to take 

a life with each of our friends you smite

We are also known for climbing up

comforters when furniture close to the

walls are touching

The stuff of nightmares.

BTS