A Beetle photo by Paul Brookes
Ants
Ants march
nothing stops them
ants march
over dead bodies
of siblings
ants march
to and fro
fro and to
indefatigable.
Ants seethe
through cracks
in the plaster
gaps in the stone
back and forth
from outside to attic
a seething river
of migrants.
I spread
the terror
of coffee grounds
on the bedroom floor
in cracks and holes
along the outside wall
where ants march
seethe
a river indefatigable.
And I hope
to divert the flow.
Jane Dougherty
Bios and Links
Jane Dougherty
lives and works in southwest France. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems and stories have been published in magazines and journals including Ogham Stone, the Ekphrastic Review, Black Bough Poetry, ink sweat and tears, Gleam, Nightingale & Sparrow, Green Ink and Brilliant Flash Fiction. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ Her poetry chapbooks, thicker than water and birds and other feathers were published in October and November 2020.