Elegy for a Stink Ant of the Cameroon
(Megaloponera foetens)
The ant driven mad
by inhaling a spore
(Tomentella)
from the millions that drift
down around him
for years,
the one impelled
to climb a twisted
vine in a crazy
dash to the top,
who nails
the vine’s stalk
with his mandibles,
impales it then dies
there like that
(emitting a tortured
cry even humans
can hear); who
sprouts a one inch
horn in death,
an ant unicorn—
that one who grew up
on the rainforest floor:
a speck, a chitin fleck,
no more.
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