my zucchini plants
teem with aphids. Gray ones in multiple
sizes! Infants. Nymphs.
Adults discharging more infants – who fall out,
grow up and reproduce again – robust and swarming
every surface. They’re disgusting!
If you pretend you love everything alive
they’ll make you quit.
They force you to concede.
I remove the floppy roofs
by trimming yellowed leaves –
exposing a steampunk array
of hollow stalks underneath – like plumbing
in the devil’s basement
or ductwork spewing air, soiled from the devil’s works.
Sue Blaustein retired in 2016. She published her first book – “In the Field, Autobiography of an Inspector” – in 2018 and a chapbook, “The Beer Line” in 2022. She blogs for Milwaukee’s Ex Fabula, and serves as an interviewer/writer for the Veteran’s Administration’s “My Life My Story” program. Find more information at www.sueblaustein.com
