This Poem was Submitted By: James C. Horak On Date: 2008-04-03 11:20:01 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!To Listen to Music While Reading this Poem, just Click Here!
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Fire Ant You will leave nothing alone
this place or any near.
Your soft palaces touch
indelicate while small life
Perverts to your use.
Somewhere Nature loves you,
even man might try.
But here where horned frog
worm snake
flecking toad,
even little nematode...
All taken by the came thing
cranking
That threw out for you,
the welcome mat. |
|
Copyright © April 2008 James C. Horak
This Poem was Critiqued By: Claire H. Currier On Date: 2008-04-21 08:31:01
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.66667
Never thought much of fire ants as they are not usually around this part of the country. They sound like I would not want them anyway, how scarry they must be.....your words certainly projected such an image to me....THEN I was walking in the woods with my daughter and her son and as we were leaving there was a road with some pretty busy ants.....she mentioned to watch out for the fire ants...of course never seeing one before and remembering your poem recently read I did stop to see what was close to my feet. Well, they were so busy working, they were half red, bright red, and I never knew that......and to think I was sitting on the ground just a little way down the road......from now on I am going to look before I sit very well. And you were right, they are horrid little creatures that looked like they would be nasty ifthey bit. Thanks for posting, sorry about the response but I just wanted to share....God Bless, Claire
This Poem was Critiqued By: Dellena Rovito On Date: 2008-04-15 01:00:58
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
James,
Speaking of ants, I've got teeny sugar ants everywhere. counters, ceiling, on me, everywhere!
I've tried every natural product, vinegar, bleach dichotomous earth, ...I think they may be tapering off about now.
Poem; same thing [possibly]
Nature loves you as I do.
I'm so upset with your treatment here at TPL.
You have always tried to be of benefit to all!
I feel ashamed.....it's no wonder the world's in turmoil.
Dellena
This Poem was Critiqued By: Terry A On Date: 2008-04-05 18:38:29
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
Fire ants. Had to look them up, as these little creatures don't bite in my neck of the woods.
Yikes! A fire ant queen is protected and groomed by her workers. These ants have hive (more commonly known as -borg- by sci-fi fans) mentality. It means they don't/can't think individually. They attack in groups, even small animals.
Individuation has always determined the final development stage of any poet that has stood the test of time.
That is what makes their work stand out and come to something.
This poem is highly metaphoric, as I see, so is the fire ant. Great choice for an extended metaphor.
The Queen fire ant is born with wings -the soul of a poet, for sure. Something causes their wings to fall off, then they crawl in the mud, supervising their workers.
This poem also hints at elitist aristocracy,(palaces) those who judge others as less. Nobility of spirit has never been conferred by degrees, often only a pompous attitude towards those less so-endowed. There is no university or college that gives a degree that enables one to write GIFTED verse. Only the deluded think so.
And I don't think there has ever been a great (real) scholar that was also not a humanitarian.
I digress a little from your poem, but good poems make people THINK, not just look for the insecticide.
There is a fly that decapitates the fire ant, just the sound of its wings causes the ants to hide. I'd change the word "cranking" to fit the metaphor better. Wait. Gadfly. cranking. Get it.
Now this poem shows a beauty of condensed meaning, one of the elements of poetry that distinquish it from prose. And the metaphor is as rich as any metaphor could be. And I have not even touched upon the mating habits of the fire ant, but somewhere, "Nature loves you" makes it much larger than the insect world.
Terry
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