[stylist] Poem - "Beetle" - Final Draft

[William L Houts]

HI Jackie,

Thanks for your kind comments on "Beetle".  It sprang from an experience 
I had in which I was watching a black beetle make its way across our 
front walk.  At first I was neutral, feeling the faint contempt we 
sometimes have for harmless insects.  But in the next moment, I was 
feeling pangs of love for this peaceful creature.  It was something to 
do with the way they demand so little from the world, in fact demand 
nothing at all, and how we humans demand nearly everything we set our 
eyes upon.

Even though your style is very different from mine, I feel the same 
sense of order in it.  Earthworms demand so very little from the world, 
and yet they're punished by us, crucified on our fishing hooks.  it 
hardly seems fair, does it?  Anyway, you've made a very fine effort 
here.  Thanks, Jackie; I look forward to seeing more of your work.


--Bill






On 6/16/2015 7:06 PM, Jackie Williams via stylist wrote:
> Bill,
> I really like your poem about beetles, and your contrast between their
> worlds and man's.
> While I have some short poems on insects, this one on angle worms has won an
> honorable mention, and is out again right now. It's set-up shows you how to
> submit to a category. I think this one was to PMS. It took much research. I
> have some poetry on bees also. I am always busy trying to save our earth.
>
> 8. Nature					Jacqueline Williams
> 						1431 W. 7th Pl.
> 						Mesa, AZ 85201
> 						480-834-1782
> 						jackieleepoet at cox.net
> 						Non-member PSM
> 					
> My Name is Oligochaeta
> A Wormologue
>
> I was hatched in this environment
> where I was intended to work,
> so I have adapted well to the food.
> I am a natural friend to you above the ground.
> There is much I can do for you
> if you will cultivate, develop, and domesticate me.
>
> At times you have made my skin crawl.
> I speak of the times when you have dug me up,
> interrupted my mission in life-procreation.
> Bisexual, I need my fifteen minutes of
> moist closeness in the cool twilight or early dawn
> to hold my bands together and make egg capsules.
>
> How dare you desecrate a grave-to dig and paw
> and scrape-solely for bait to trap a hungry fish.
> My offspring make your fields and orchards prolific.
> I compete with the bee as the most important
> factor to your world and its future.
> So, what are you going to do about me?
>
> Squeeze me tight so my valuable serum emerges?
> Put a sharp hook through a segment into my band-
> my hearts? Ignore my system akin to a factory?
> Its processes might one day give you medicines or oil.
> You just like my persistent life, wriggling on that hook,
> intriguing fish for hours after I am impaled.
>
> I am food for your poultry, create robust birds
> and better eggs for your palate. I increase production
> in citrus groves, orchards of fruit, your landscaping,
> fields of vegetables, and home gardens.
> I leave no castings above ground to disfigure
> your manicured golf greens, or contoured lawns.
>
> 							Stanza break
>
> I am willing and eager to contribute my share.
> All I ask is a little respect and kindness.
> Here, in this grave, though headless, eyeless and toothless-
> I burrow through the dirt and rot and breathe through my epidermis.
> I leave you clean bones and aerated soil for better things.
> I even have a good sex life as long as no light shines on me.
>
> I know you want to fish. I mean you no deprivation-
> but please-hold me gently, and do not scream if I ooze.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jackie Lee
>
> Time is the school in which we learn.
> Time is the fire in which we burn.
> Delmore Schwartz	
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L
> Houts via stylist
> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2015 4:37 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Cc: William L Houts
> Subject: [stylist] Poem - "Beetle" - Final Draft
>
>
>
> Hey Blihnks,
>
> This isn't a recent poem exactly, but I'm thinking that I never gave it
> any airplay.  It comes from a remarkable time in my personal development
> when I moved from a grudging toleration of bugs and other small
> creatures to something grander, more generous:  a true affection for them.
>
>
> --Bill
>
>
> ---
>
> *Beetle *
>
> Somber lack beetle,
>
> making your slow thoughtlike way
>
> on rain-washed ancient brick:
>
> once I did loathe you,
>
> shell and antenna,six little
>
> legs at labor profound, taking you
>
> to something unseen:
>
> the beetle world,its perils
>
> unfeared by my titan foot,
>
> and unfeared by you, as terrors
>
> don't adhere to a head made
>
> for mating and feeding, quite
>
> content to be plain, mundane.
>
> Glories I crave, human curse
>
> peculiar and grand; but you,
>
> peaceful, persist at errands
>
> too small for complaint,
>
> contempt, or the perverse
>
> definitions
>
> of philosophers,
>
> sidewalk wits
>
> or doleful droll poets
>
> settling their
>
> wistful meditations
>
> on your shiny black back.
>
>
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-- 


"Oh, Sophie!  Whyfore have you eated all de cheeldren?"