Naming the Beetles. A Poem by David Chorlton

 

A dozen beetles suddenly
are clustered on a leaf,
black with red designs
on their glistening backs
 
with six more farther
down the stem.
What can we say
we are seeing? Drops
 
of poison or a sweet
confection from
the spirit world? Pinpricks
on a lacquered base
 
or the blood
from an animal so long extinct
it has to bleed from
an adopted skin?
 
They shine in a manner
almost sinister, yet
the way they cling
to each other
 
suggests they have arrived
as a message conveyed
through space and time
as a warning to act
 
in the common interest
before it disappears.
Soon enough
they leave us wondering
 
what was here
with a gloss and such
delicate legs they must
have walked on light
 
to wherever they went.

 
 
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David Chorlton is a transplanted European, who has lived in Phoenix since 1978. His poems have appeared in many publications on- and off-line, and reflect his affection for the natural world, as well as occasional bewilderment at aspects of human behavior. His most recent book, A Field Guide to Fire, was his contribution to the Fires of Change exhibition shown in Flagstaff and Tucson in Arizona.
 
 
 
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
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Key of Mist. Guadalupe Grande.Translated.Amparo Arróspide.Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
goodreads.com/author/show/Robin Ouzman Hislop
http://www.aquillrelle.com/authorrobin.htm
http://www.amazon.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
www.lulu.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
https://www.amazon.com/author/robinouzmanhislop
http://www.innerchildpress.com/robin-ouzman-hislop.All the Babble of the Souk

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