Recipe for Ridding the World of Ants

As if.

Up one arm
down the other
I don’t have the heart
to pinch the little mother
to its death
or grind my foot
into its tiny black form.
Gently between thumb and
forefinger I fling it to the floor.
The cats don’t even bother
to eat them any more
they’ve become another fixture
of this urban house’s lore.

I hate the ants, despise them
and can poison them just fine.
But to personally pummel them?
Spirit urges my decline.

In my husband’s Ohio childhood
his grandpa Lendy poured gasoline
into anthills all over the yard.
He lit it. Whoosh!
Flames shot up from anthills,
Earth lifted and fell
Whump!
Everywhere Len looked little miracles
exploded legions of ants.

They came back.

They will always come back.

When human beings fade in Earth’s memory,
ants will tunnel through the rubble of our lives.

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The Sunday Scribblings prompt is recipe. I started optimistic, but quickly realized that there will never be a foolproof recipe to rid the world of ants. Nonetheless, another ant piece emerged.