"Runner-up of the Open Community Poetry Contest for the period April 1 - June 30, 2017."-Ed.
A branch’s charcoal shadow
A branch’s charcoal shadow
cast by an evening sun
traces a single line of trifling ants
following in file under an oak’s shade
avoiding the rays, scurrying;
carrying various debris and larvae
determined to fulfill the directive
to relocate after a summer’s deluge
puddled and flooded their previous pile of dirt
and labyrinthine tunnels beneath,
only to disappear in the crack of
a partially broken sidewalk
and then surface in the chipped cedar mulch of an untamed flowerbed
and then finally fade into the Bermuda Grass, adjacent
which, to the tiny creatures, is an entire world away.
