Tag: Insects

May 26, 2025

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Green Marvel (Acronita fallax)

Night light a bit too bright

Misguided moth settles on the screen

Night flight, viburnum bite

Interrupted by the porch light scene

Black and white fringe delights

Bordering a mint-chocolate-chip green

Moss-like during daylight

Bulb out! Return to woodland canteen.

A naturette poem.

A form I invented to celebrate tiny bits of nature.

Rhyme, lines and syllables are:

6AA, 9B, 6CC, 9B, 6DD, 9B, 6EE, 9B

This one is inspired by my love of and curiosity for moths. And what lands on the screen door on those warm evenings when I leave the porch light on.

April 2, 2024

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Snow fleas (a type of springtail insect with an antifreeze like protein that makes it more tolerant of cold than other insects) on the melting snow along a trail

Snow Fleas

Melting snow where trees grow

Reveals more than long soggy trails

Antifreeze-filled snow fleas

More precisely known as springtails

Numbers grow, blacken snow

As they jump from the dampened trails

Harmless things, have no wings

Warm snowy days reveal springtails.

Naturette Poem. A poetry form I invented to write about a tiny detail of nature. 

The 8-line poem has the following rhyme scheme and syllable count:

6AA

8B

6CC

8B

6DD

8B

6EE

8B

February 20, 2020

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Dots dashes spots splashes

Patterns of Morse code for the bees

Moths and flies fly from skies

Descending from up in the trees

Finding sweet nectar treat

At the tail end of winter freeze

Early blooms fragrant fumes

Wake insects from their winter zzzz

Naturette Poem

8 lines with the following syllable count and rhyme scheme about small finds in nature.

6AA

8B

6CC

8B

6DD

8B

6EE

8B

July 23,2019

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Necrophila americana

The American Carrion Beetle

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Death

Feeds life

Soft Maggots

Are tasty snacks

Carrion Beetles

Consume flesh and fungus bites

While transplanting mites

Eating what we won’t

Try forcing us

And we may

Prefer

Death

_____________________________________

An Arkquain Poem

November 2

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Fig

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Sticky fig needs a wasp to fruit

Otherwise it’s all leaves and root

This fact the squeamish may dispute

Tiny wasp pollinates

Leaves eggs and wings along her route

In fig’s sweet flesh, tastes great.

_____________________________________

(A Burns Stanza or Standard Habbie)

October 28

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Moths

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When the moths no longer welcome me home

I know that winter is soon on the way

It’s sad to slip past the porch light alone

No night flying lovelies amidst the glow

Acknowledging the end of the work day

Tawny and buff with stripes of color for show

They are as compelling as the night sky

Hiding among ridges of bark by day

Emerging at night to dance as they fly

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(A Nocturna Poem)

October 16

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Katydid

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Nice try katydid but you are no leaf

Stick in cold pause in the October dawn

In slow motion until the cool is gone

Soaking in the sun’s rays for some relief

Up in the boughs you may never be seen

Down on the bark you’re the only thing green

This time of year the cool morning is brief

As sun steals the chill like a sly thief

You’re a target here now so green on the bark

Sure you were safe but it’s no longer dark

As the day brightens it’s nature’s belief

It’s time to conclude your chirps and your trills

Ending the night of adventures and thrills

‘Til dark katydid, go hide on a leaf

_____________________________________

(A Mabini Sonnet)

June 6

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Spotted Lanternfly

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They creep and crawl

Curious and confused

In a foreign land

Exploring new plants

Suitable for food

Seemingly adapted to find all leaves

Sufficient as meals and for young to roam

*

They creep and crawl

Roots pushing through hardened soils

This plant these bugs know

It’s familiar scent

Repels us humans

But this new insect to the US finds

This foreign tree a postcard from home.

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(A Duodora Poem)