Stowaways
I hate stink bugs & how, like stowaways, they end up in every room. Crawling along the back of the oven. The bathtub faucet. Beneath dog beds & pillows. And once, my new toothbrush. I hate the shield-shape of their exoskeletons. The musky cloud they emit at the slightest touch. A smell so sharp (some say like coriander), it lingers like the memory of my first encounter when I discovered a small horde hiding in the junction box for the Bell South line. But I love finding them in precarious places, like the one this morning, seen sunning along the edge of a sky-blue umbrella—a tiny alien with bent antennae, scanning. Or, the one found late-afternoon, poised atop the nozzle of a spray bottle, undeterred by the scent of lemongrass & lavender, or the faded label reading, Bugs Be Gone. I love that our Australian Shepherd has learned to leave them alone & I no longer need to Google phrases like What happens when my dog eats a stink bug? I love that I know how to catch & release them, mostly without getting musked, love the surprise sheen of copper on fanned wings, the buzz & hum when they drunkenly fly off.
Thank you for reading a small spectacle and for being a part of this community. For more poems about the living things that keep us company here on Earth, my book Every Note, a Lantern is available from Kelsay Books and Amazon.
Thanks also to to poet Ann Fisher-Wirth for the writing prompt that inspired this poem, I hate/ I love, and to author Janisse Ray for inviting Ann to be a guest speaker during a recent session of her American Nature Writing Masterclass.
Take care of one another, and do good when and wherever you can.
Ha, the stinkbug appears to be licking the Bug B Gone!
I really like this writing prompt! It's such an intriguing way to consider even the most annoying life forms. If I gave myself some flexibility in the wording (i.e. I despise/I understand) I think I could write about almost anything. Thank you for sharing this, MK.