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by Bob King
Most of what we do, directly or indirectly,
is about distracting us from the fact that
we’ll all be dead soon. We’re all just renters.
But maybe it’s also about being remembered
after we’re kaput. Squished. Entombed. See also:
headstones and mausoleums, which really
are just fancy Post-it Notes for the future
generations for when they walk through
the field-cemetery-kitchen of our past lives:
we hope they see the hasty scribble and forgive
us for eating all the plums in the icebox which
they were probably saving but were so delicious
and sweet and we simply couldn’t help
ourselves. Don’t be a plum eater. Think of
others. Conserve. Learn trivia along the trail:
Did you know Darwin’s Galopagoan boat
was called the Beetle? Wait. That’s not true.
It was the Beagle. But I misheard the podcast
or the lyrics and thought John, Paul, and George
might’ve been trying to make some kind of evolved
statement after the hard days and nights in Hamburg,
where their 10,000 hours of play transformed them
from amateurs into experts. But no. They weren’t
naturalists or activists. Yet. Did you know that
Neanderthals were most likely gingers—red tufted
and freckled and soulless and Germanic with limited
language but urgent with their hubba hubba eyebrow
arches in their pastoral pickup joints because
procreation. Because without procreation they
knew that the Homo sapiens on their way from
Africa would try to exterminate or assimilate or both.
Most of us still have at least 2% Neanderthal DNA.
That’s a fact, you post-extinction caveman. Red yarn
red yarn red yarn—butterfly effect—and like an amateur
detective I can red yarn from Ethiopia to Hamburg
to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and red yarn
from my footfalls on the crushed limestone towpath
to a quick scamper off-route and after taking a leak
beside a walnut tree like my epically aged ancestors,
like an expert I bend to check out the Red-Headed
Ground Beetle feasting on aphids just outside
Szalay’s sweet corn field. Yes, it’s true that this
ginger beetle is capable of mixing chemicals
in her dual pygidial glands—her butt—yes, in
her marvelous ass she can blend fluid and create
a combustion engine and POP! hot acrid gas
ejects and is capable of paralyzing even a small
mammal, like a shrew, which is why some beetles
are called bombardier beetles and even Darwin
got bombed by one, but that’s not what took him
out. No. He was run over by a Volkswagen Bug
in the ironies to end ironies because like Alanis
Morissette, it’s not ironic. And it’s not true.
The Bug wasn’t invented until about 50 years
after Darwin’s ticker stopped, and even
the combined idea and design of Ferdinand
Porsche and Adolph Hitler couldn’t have
resurrected a father of evolution, which—
red yarn—can be easily corrupted,
like anything, because as good as we are
at discovery and invention, our penchant
for perversion and exploitation of a good idea
is just as strong. See evolution. See eugenics.
See entomology. See deforestation. See politics.
See coup d’état. But the truth also is that Red-
Headed Beetles are beneficial creatures, despite
their incredible capacity for cruelty. Cruelty
isn’t the point. For them. For us. Even the smallest
creatures make the globe spin like good vinyl.
And when all the broken-hearted people—broken
by the bullies and belligerent coaches and teachers
and family members and cliquey kids in a field
with a weaponized magnifying glass—yes,
when all the broken-hearted people living in
the world agree—agree that there’s more power
in being a cheerleader than there is being a critic—
there will be an answer. Yes, there will be an answer.
Continue Reading
Eastern ForktailLindsay Barba
CoyoteStephanie Ginese
Common MilkweedDelilah McCrea
Showy OrchisBill Newby
Common PawpawIsaiah Back-Gaal
Common DewberryPeter McWilliams
Winter FireflyIsaiah Hunt
Giant Leopard MothAlex Saba
Virginia BluebellsBronlynn Thurman
American RobinKari Gunter-Seymour
American CrowJason Harris
Eastern CottontailEros Livieratos
Bald-faced HornetKJ Ceranowski
Poverty OatgrassHaylee Schwenk
Song SparrowVirginia Konchan
Wood DuckDiana Lueptow
Japanese HoneysuckleShei Sanchez
Yellow BullheadTed Lardner
Funeral BellTishon Woolcock
Common DandelionCora Liderbach
WarmouthCamille Ferguson
Splended Earth-Boring BeetleKortney Morrow
Snapping TurtleJessica Jewell
SassafrasAndrea Imdacha
Poison IvyMarina Vladova
Pharaoh CicadaCathy Barber
Northern Dusky SlugRay McNiece
JewelweedJudith Mansour
DamselfliesKen Tomaro
BloodrootChad Lutz
KilldeerMary Biddinger
Big Brown BatSujata Lakhe
Barred OwlCourtney Noster
Long-eared OwlMichael Loderstedt
Isabella Tiger MothLeah Graham
American SycamoreMegan Lubey
Water Forget-Me-NotAlyssa Perry
Yellow-dusted Cream MothCass Penegor
Painted-cup PaintbrushHilary Plum
Masked BeesZach Savich
TrilliumKimberlee Medicine Horn Jackson
Eastern Tiger SwallowtailKira Preneta
CrayfishConor Bracken
Great Blue HeronDan Dorman
American SweetgumCaryl Pagel
Painted TurtleRebekah Ainsworth
Green DarnerMarion Boyer
American BeaverKatie Daley
Eastern Screech-OwlDr. R. Ray Gehani
Spring PeeperBarbara Sabol
Eastern Carpenter BeeSylvia Clark
Jacob's LadderRisha Nicole
Candleflame LichenClara Britton
Eastern NewtElizabeth Ryan
American BullfrogLaura Grace Weldon
American ChestnutCarrie George
American GoldfinchMarybeth Cieplinski
American Giant MillipedeMary Quade
American HornbeamJeff Gundy
American White WaterlilyGeoffry Polk
Artist’s BracketSusann Moeller
Banded Fishing SpiderCharlie Malone
BluegillOlivia Farina
Common Star-of-BethlehemBrita Alaburda
Common StonefliesKaren Schubert
Eastern ChipmunkNathan Kemp
Eastern Tent Caterpillar MothZachary Thomas
Eastern Red-backed SalamanderTovli Simiryan
Firefly BeetleJacquie Peoples Dukes
Gray CatbirdTheresa Brightman
Great MulleinLaurie Kincer
Green HeronPaula J. Lambert
HepaticaAmanda Schuster
Interrupted FernKathleen Cerveny
Jack-in-the-PulpitMichael Buebe
Meadow VoleRoberta Jupin
Monarch ButterflyDeborah Fleming
MuskratCatherine Wing
Pearl CrescentMonica Kaiser
Poison HemlockJon Conley
Red-Headed Ground BeetleBob King
Star JelliesCameron Gorman
Sugar MapleSteve Brightman
Turkey VultureLaura Grace Weldon
White-footed MouseMichelle Bissell
White-tailed DeerBenjamin Rhodes
Wild CarrotJessica Jones
ABOUT
Traveling Stanzas community arts projects bring poetry to people’s everyday lives through innovative methods and digital platforms.