I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

21 February 2013

Size Doesn't Matter

In this long monsoon, each evening,
tiny flies
appear in the house as from nowhere:
floating spots.
Each morning they are all corpses,
little black dots
littering every available surface —
their tiny lives
exhausted by the large event
of stinging me
with more ferocity than you could credit.

Submitted for Poets United's Poetry Pantry #139

24 comments:

  1. Oh my, this sounds miserable. Indeed, apparently size DOES not matter when it comes to flies!! What is the name of this kind of fly? (I have never experienced anything like this here.)

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    1. I don't know, Mary. They are so very tiny. Maybe they are midges. Or perhaps fruit flies, as they are hanging around the fruit bowl lately - but obviously not exclusively vegetarian! And WHERE do they come from?

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  2. Very interesting, and a great concept. When does life come from and what does it all mean? Captured something eternal here.

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    1. I think we must not discount what the reader brings to the party!

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  3. I love the way you wrote this ;D
    So vivid....

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  4. It's funny how the mind works... from the title I was expecting something different and I love it when I'm wrong. I enjoyed this.

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  5. Ouch!
    Was it Goethe who wrote: "Every evening I swat 99 mosquitoes and every morning I am woken by one."
    Maybe not.

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    1. Whoever it was just gave me a delighted laugh of recognition! Oh no, it was you who did that. :)

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  6. Oy, the drawbacks of living in warm monsoon-y climes. I'll try not to be as jealous, as our winter toils along. Our flies and mosquitoes will be here soon enough!

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    1. We have had an extraordinary amount of rain this year, so the insect conditions are extraordinary too.

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  7. ah! reminds of David and Goliath! :)

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  8. I feel your pain! I enjoyed the way you conveyed the frustration of one who is loved by the bugs with gentle humor!
    PS LOVE your blog name. You had me at Crone!

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    1. Thank you. :)

      Yes, I could do with being a little less loved by them.

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  9. Ha-this showed you are a force to be reckoned with. Nice concluding lines-they made me smile :)

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  10. We have red gnats that literally attack at dusk. I smiled because they aren't here now... too cold. But they'll return in May.

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  11. great write! i can relate to this. :)

    my home is also a target of these insects (i live in the tropics). i think these are fruit flies, and they appear usually before rains.

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    1. Yes, you'd be right. They have been hanging around my bowl of bananas. We are sub-tropical, and I haven't encountered them here before - but we have had an excessive amount of rain in recent weeks.

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