at their size the backyard could be countries
travelled France the rose bush the shed
Austria where we went skiing in February
even as all this was beginning mouths covered
on the flight despite stares overreacting
everyone thought but anyway the ants
crossed into the kitchen in March
through that crack in the baseboard
i used bleach to kill their chemical trails
but they waded through it dying
five of them bodies knotted and
an hour later two had vanished then the rest
my wife says the living claim the dead
for food one neighbour now at Sainsbury’s
texts to ask if we need anything our street
caring for its own i prefer to think
those ants were taken to be mourned
but i put a bait trap out anyway
imagine you are far from home you
bring back that souvenir back to family
back to friends all of us home now
grandfathers mothers uncles aunts
some sick some dying and you say
but i didn’t know just imagine that
today i walked the thousand ant miles to shed
insecticides inside seeds i haven’t planted
and no ants now the streets almost empty