“…One particular species, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, has become famous for its ability to turn ants into zombies.”
The Light burns through the rain and the heat
Glinting in an airborne seed
Boring through the dome of my head.
I am no longer my own.
In rush the purifying floods
New roots assume my tendons
There was no need to reason:
When the bracken of hunger and colony’s cleared
There is only one road
One step for each angular leg.
It’s warm in the sun where they laid me
Away from the trampled path.
Rising, I reach for my way
Up the earth’s last stem
Gaze with lidless eyes
Towards the only sun
Cast my only body to the wind
And, surrendering,
Stretch my true antenna to the heavens.
— Thomas Wesley is a poet and journalist currently based in Northern Canada. Follow him on Twitter at @MrMapleLeafRag or on Substack at mapleleafrag.substack.com.