As there are a few more days in April, which is National Poetry Month, this pedometer geek decided to post poems from 2018’s edition of the Huron, Ohio poetry anthology, 44839: Poetry From a Zip Code, 2018. This poet also had four poems chosen for the anthology, and all of them tend to represent my impressions of the small city in which I reside. This one is called “Battle of Lake Erie.”
Battle of Lake Erie
Each summer
we are invaded,
by mayflies,
thousands and thousands of troops
descending upon hapless citizens.
They are known, alternately,
even affectionately,
as American or Canadian soldiers,
depending on one’s location.
Over night,
they appear, blown
by the caprice of the wind,
onto land
covering siding, garages,
windows, and storefronts.
Covering everything in their path.
Looking like steroid-induced mosquitoes,
they live but a few days.
Forced to fast with no mouth parts,
yet providing food for perch, for walleye,
for insect-eating birds.
Here with one goal,
to procreate,
with long ovipositors,
they are sex personified.
Molting once, twice, and then gone,
leaving their carcasses
behind stinking on the ground,
crunching underneath feet.
The life cycle circles
back to the fresh water,
where they mate
keeping the lake healthy,
repeating itself
over and over.
Invasion, indeed,
not the 1812 battle,
But one that is necessary
and only creates winners.
~Nancy Brady, 2018
I remember staying along the Kentucky River in Frankfort… We were up either the 6th or 8th floor I think and there were flies on the glass… I think I actually took a photo through the glass of the bug!
I wondered how it got there – the wind I guess. I didn’t know though that they couldn’t eat – Some days you learn you something interesting. Thanks.
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JP, glad you found something of interest here.
It is amazing how far these insects can be blown off course with the winds we have. They generally want to mate on or near the water. We actually have two different types of insects like this. The mayflies are large and the midges are small. Midges, often called muffleheads, look just like mosquitoes except they don’t sting; they just procreate. At sunset, they will go up about twenty feet in the air and have a high-pitched hum/buzz. At times, they are so thick, it looks like smoke.
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