Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Sleeping Outdoors

As many of you know, Minnesota's other state bird is the mosquito. And some of them have been known to drift eastward to Wisconsin where I encounter them.

My feelings about these insects can be intuited in this Found Poem - a rearrangement of words written for a different context.



Sleeping Outdoors
   
    A Found Poem from McCormick's
    "Hang Time," Minnesota Monthly,
    May/June 2019


In mosquito country, pack heat
or back away.

Wild bugs parachute in,
hang from trees on the trail,
angle for a better view of you.

Primed to strap themselves
to backs and butts

they can sweep away the goal
of completing a trail run

or shave comfort from viewing
stars on a summer's evening.

The most common mistake
lies in forgetting netting
at snooze time.

That closer-to-nature feeling?
Not that appealing.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor






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