Ants! (Based on a True Story) - an insect poem/an ugh poem

Ants! (Based on a True Story)
by
Greg Pincus

They're coming in through gaps and cracks,
Through windows and through doors:
The ants aren't coming one by one
They're marching in by scores!
I fight them on the stove top
And when we've finished brawling,
I take a breath and then...oh no!
The kitchen counter's crawling.
I wipe and crush and swipe and spray.
I kill and shed no tears.
I cannot show them weakness.
They cannot know my fears.
I celebrate each surface cleared,
But there's no time to linger.
I cannot take a moment off and...
Ack!! One's on my finger!!!
I want to send a message,
Hear this come from their lips:
"Don't go inside, my ant-mates
For it's pure antpocalypse."
I try to love the whole wide world,
But sometimes... I just can't.
So here, today, I say out loud
I'm firmly anti-ant.


I'm not saying this is a necessarily a poem for kids. I am saying that this day will live in ant-infamy: July 24, 2018. And yes, I emerged victorious from the quagmire....

And hey, it's Poetry Friday, so why not check out this week's roundup of poetry goodies over at Reading to the Core. (And maybe celebrate by checking out Great Morning!, too.)

It's a Great Morning!

I'm excited to have a poem in the new anthology Great Morning! And I also just love the idea behind the book: it's full of poems that can be read by school leaders as morning announcements.

Lots of ways you can order the book, including straight from the distributor.  You should also check out all the Poetry Friday Anthologies and other goodies from Pomelo Books while you're at it (and I say that as someone with poems in a few books but appreciation for all of what they've done).

And I really gotta say it is a personally great morning when I realize that my work is included alongside poems by this remarkable collection of poets....