Scattering

an army of ants built this hill

moved the earth and cut the door

created arteries in the copper sand

with single-minded acquiescence

 

and with one well placed footstep

I have laid waste to their divine colony

dethroned a deific queen-mother

diffusing her daughters like sundried florets

 

but if I watch them long enough

the scattering will turn to unification

tiny bodies will erase the past and rebuild

a replica of their wrecked world

 

I yearn for this resolute resiliency

ache for the ability to focus on the eventual

discarding the molded husk of memory

that flowers like violet bruises across

                        the flesh of my consciousness

Reviews

[Jack...]

Amazing, just yesterday I was standing outside with a friend, he was talking and I was watching an ant trail on the concrete admiring their hard work and dedication, their ability to function as a single unit moving in both directions, performing their duties and I thought about their world. When my friend saw me looking down, he looked as well and then with one big foot, planted it in the middle of this factory of nature. It pretty much broke my heart as I watched them "scattering" frantically and wondered what they must be thinking. I smiled as I saw them eventually fall back in line and carry on as if nothing had happened. But it had, I know they were only ants, but I felt sorry for their fallen comrades. (I am weird like that) Why did I go off on a tangent like this, hell I don't know, your poem just told the same exact story in a much more beautiful way and I loved it.

[B]

Ants can be so wise
removed from the here and now
planning ahead in positive perspective always

Somethings Ants have managed to achieve that no human mind has

I think you done a great job depicting that

[J. Alfred Prufrock]

wow, i enjoyed this greatly. it is very strange, i have a poem also about ants also. but it was your words "divine colony" that took a turn for the surreal with me, since my poem also mixes in the idea of divinity or rather the idea of "god" with ants. i guess great minds think alike. i never expected to see another poem with a similair theme here, that's for sure. *smile." well done. this is my favorite so far.

prufrock

[Nishada's]

i am still looking for the "like" button as on fb..beautiful and natural :-)

[Robert L. Franklin]

You've got to hand it to ants. No matter what befalls them, they eventually collect themselves, dust themselves off, and continue their lives. They're a great analogy for what we humans should do when we get derailed from our routines. I don't know if this was deliberately a metaphor, but that's the great thing about poetry, yeah? It's interpretive. Keep up the good work.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

It was deliberate...but it was also a true story. I tend to see the world in metaphors most of the time; when something happens my mind automatically relates it back to something. I also speak in metaphors a lot...much to the dismay of my friends and family. lol

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

We, with our wondrous minds, can't seem to unite and come together like this. No! We set about to destroy the wonders which Mother Nature has made; but, as ever, she reigns triumphant. We can stamp our feet and try to shatter her world, but she will reinvent herself anew and even better.

Your language is beautiful and easily seen in the mind's eye.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

You are so kind...thank you so much, Linda!

[Derek Smith]

this was awesome, got a picture of myself stepping on ant hills as a kid and its true to watch them all scatter to gather everything back, and make again the master piece they once held dear to themselves. to rebuild a home and makes you wonder how we do not have the same ability. great write

[Astro]

Oh the age old question, how to escape our pasts, or to be free from the pain or seemingly never ending hold it has on our psyche, denying that which we we all desire, true happiness. This is an interesting way to illustrate this universal theme, as harsh as the destruction of other beings to force it into existence may be, it shows how truly hard it can seem and to what measures we may consider to bring it about. A fine write Ms. W.

[annie lee]

Ah, but theirs is a collective consciousness -- like the Borg. They do not understand the concept of creating; they simply sweep away the injured and DO. I would not call it resiliency but a tunnel-visioned drive. We humans are gifted with individual consciousness; when we are wounded, our compatriots do not kick us to the side of the road and go about their business. They tenderly carry you to a place where you can be fixed (it is hoped), and they visit you later with awkward smiles and goofy gifts. This "molded husk of memory" you speak of is natural for us; sharing that pain and the incidents that caused it with others is what restores our drive. You really made me think with this one. It is beautifully written, stark images of destruction and despairing knowledge of pain.

[Brett Michael Wagner]

I love this. Very creative.