Ant’s Eye View [Lyric Poem]

How much grander must the world seem
closer to the ground,
a grass forest within the forest
with layered forest sounds?

Or would one be cut off from
the vaulted dome of sky,
and have one’s world shrink to
the limits of one’s eye?

If an ant thought it saw everything,
but only viewed a slice,
would its tiny ant mind have contracted a basic human vice?

Giant Stag Beetle [Haiku]

giant stag beetle
with broken antler and limp
still freaks me out

Grasshopper [Haiku]

a grasshopper 
lands on dappled granite;
becomes a statue

Butterfly Dogfight [Haiku]

the butterfly jinks.
its pursuer holds the line.
i blink; they're gone.

Moth Unfinished [Haiku]

monochrome moth,
but for its yellow cape,
looks pencil drawn

Caterpillar Convoy [Haiku]

caterpillar queue
marches in lockstep
across the road

Grass Yellow Butterfly [Tanka]

the Grass-Yellow finds
a place in the dry leaves
where its green tint
is more ornamental 
than it is camouflage

DAILY PHOTO: Silver-Washed Fritillary, Kaindy Lake in Kazakhstan

Taken in Kazakhstan in the summer of 2019 near Kaindy Lake.

Which Way Did He Go? [Common Meter]

A caterpillar scurried on
at such a rapid pace,
but I forget which way it went
because it lacked a face.

It looked the same this way as that -
bereft of front and back.
And how'd it know which way to go?
It must have had a knack.