I am sitting in my garden; a lamp is burning.
There are no girlfriend, servants, and friends.
Instead of the weak and great of this living,
There is only consonant ping of insects.

-- Joseph Brodsky

My translation.

Alexey

Insects will probably outlast us all Alexey.

Using a microwave dish and some junk male, I rescued a bee yesterday which had flown through my window and couldn't find it's way out, seeing all those bright flowers and sunlight outside and not being able to get through the glass to them is something i can really identify with, ---- in fact i felt really sorry for it.

when I stuck my hands out of the window and took the paper off the dish and let it go, I was really happy.

sorry for the randomness, and especially if this sounds boastful, I just thought I'd stick that in here while we're discussing insects.

a friend of mine and i while drinking wine one afternoon in the backyard of my apartment watched an ant trail curve along.
it was a summer's day and we were entranced and giggled too as we watched them crawl along.

if you rub your fingers through the ant trail about two inches of it - they loose the scent of the ants in front of them and thus get confused. they then loose their way on the trail and search for it again. it's a fascinating thing to see.

insects

i love insects
always have
i could watch ants all day long, endless entertainment, i don't mess them up though, just watch them, havent got time to take notice of insects much anymore. I used to think the red ones were bad guys and black ones good guys, but i feel sorry for the red ones now because they are smaller than the black ones. our ants are tiny compared to most american ones, but they are still great.
i used to run an insect vets with people in my street, we made a club and we would rescue insects, and for worms that had gone onto the pavement in the hot sun we made a rehabilitation program consisting of different pots of dirt which would help them hydrate and become strong in different stages (my idea).
we made badges too.
i love woodlice tonnes, they are probably better than ants, i saw one give birth once.
i used to take care of all the dead things too, if there was a dead frog or something on the road somebody would come to me and i would take it, dig a hole in my mothers lawn and bury it. it must be full of frogs, birds and bats under there. i always thought they deserved a proper burial. insects and animals are just great!

anyway, i'm off topic.

Thanks for replies, guys.

I also like insects, but I hate moscitos. I love spiders too.

Alexey

mosquitoes suck! (no pun intended! hehe)

I find ladybugs fascinating.

Just for you Alexey ...



LOL

Alexey,

Nice poem and nice translation too. It's cool to consider the tiny constants of nature that are going on all around us and are not at all affected by the drama in our lives. Interesting perspective.

Much love,
Larry

The vast majority of insects and spiders are beneficial.

Of course there are the exceptions. Mosquitos are the perps of the insect world. They have killed (through their parasite burdens) more people than probably any other causality.

But there is real beauty in many insects and spiders if you look at them with an electron microscope. The orb weaving spider (Charlottes' Web fame) is truly fascinating.

I hope this doesn't yuk out too many people!

Insects are great .............. but only if properly marinated and served with french fries.

Errr Roger ...
have you been watching that Discovery Channel special
where they eat deep fried tarantulas ???

Gulp..............guilty.

One of my first jobs was at Vancouver's "premiere" grocery store
There was a specialty aisle that had such snacks as chocolate covered ants & locusts
My personal favourite was the canned fried bumble bees
All the kids used to pick them up & scream "E-W-W-W"

Of all insects, dragonflies ROCK my world

Thanks guys, especially Larry, for your input.

I guess this poetic thread is turning into a culinary store.

Alexey

Sorry Alexey,
I guess this is called hijacking a thread. To return this to the poetry theme

Fleas

Adam had 'em.

You better find a poem about insects!

I look into a dragonfly's eye
and see
the mountains over my shoulder

~issa - japanese zen buddhist monk 1763-1827

Very cool.

Thanks. Sometimes so little creatures can allow us to see the greatest natural beauty.

I would add to the poem: I never saw these mountains, and when I meditated and the butterfly sat at my knee, I saw...

Alexey

There once was a cricket named Dave
Who hopped on a street freshly paved.
A car came along
Ignoring his song
If you look really well you can see him there still to this day.

Awesome!

I feel for this cricket named Dave.

He was not ready for street challenges.

Big fleas have little fleas
Upon their backs to bite'em
Little fleas have littler fleas
And so ad infinitum

For any big fish, there is a bigger fish, who will hunt the smaller one.

Alexey

Spiders
by Foster Brown


Spiders, spiders
Eight legged spiders
They climb the walls, they roam the halls
lookin’ for some food.

Spiders, spiders
Eight legged spiders
If you dare let them climb your hair
and dance upon your nose.

They’ve got one, two, three, four
five, six, seven, eight.
Eight legs to stand upon,
that’s why they’re never late.

I’ve seen them walk, I’ve seen them run,
I’ve seen them jump real high.
I’ve even seen them walk on water,
and catch the wind and fly.

Spiders, spiders
Eight legged spiders
They climb the walls, they roam the halls
lookin’ for some food.

Spiders, spiders
Eight legged spiders
If you dare let them climb your hair
And dance upon your nose.

They make a web with their spinneret
and on their abdomen it’s found.
They make it seem real easy,
as they drop and spin around.

To make a web it’s a masterpiece,
and it seems a cryin’ shame.
That a web of such beauty
is a trap to cause such pain.

It is so funny!

Spiders are masters at web spinning. They do it with mathematical precision. Spiders also predict weather: they spin vertical or horizontal lines depending on the atmospheric pressure that is going to establish.

Thanks for this poem.

How much math do the spiders actually know?

Oh!

Then they have been pre - programmed so that they don't have to solve equations to put up their webs.

Yes, they were pre-programmed by nature. It is amazing how their internal "computers" deal with the world around them.

Spiders are hard workers.

Alexey