Today we speak of ants at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... not my favorite little critter, but then this is why:
February 18, 1957, the day we arrived in the Phillipines into our new home! I thought it was fantastic, I loved the warm air, bright flowers and the palm trees. I was exactly 5 years old.
I decided to explore our garden. In the back yard there were some bright colored plants (which I discovered were red hot chili peppers in an assortment of bright hues) and a hill. That afternoon turned out to be very painful. The first thing I did was collect some of the bright "berries" the second was run up the hill. Unfortunately the hill was the home of some very aggressive fire ants.
The ants immediately began to swarm up my legs and bite. The pain is still fresh in my memory. I began to scream at the top of lungs. My mother and father ran out of the house and grabbed me, Mom trying to sweep the ants off my legs, got her fair share of bites as well. In the end I found myself, fully clothed with my mother in the shower.
By then of course I was crying and I rubbed my eyes ... fire again. The pretty berries had become mashed in my hand ... a memorable birthday indeed.
king of the mountain
ants won the game - defending
with dragon fire
ants won the game - defending
with dragon fire
(c) G.s.k. '14
I'll write another post for ants .. later on ;-)
Awesome haibun Georgia ...
ReplyDeleteThanks ... 'twas an awesome moment ;-)
DeleteOuch for certain. The dragon fire is quite the image!
ReplyDeleteIt was a moment burnt into my memory! :-)
DeleteOh my gosh, how terrible!
ReplyDeleteAs a child of the American southwest, I've been bitten by fire ants more than once. Colloquially speaking, I hate them suckers!
Thanks for visiting us at http://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com
You've all my sympathy and understanding ... really beastly little critters! A pleasure reading you work always! :-)
DeleteOh my gosh -- how terrifying and painful! And I really feel for your poor mom, too -- oh my -- what a birthday indeed.
ReplyDeleteBut your "king of the mountain" analogy is just perfect -- but ants don't play fair, do they?
They sure didn't play fair ... but to be fair to them, that was their home ... I'm afraid to say that the hill was fired in the end. That night they poured kerosene onto the anthill and burnt it then leveled it (we kids were a bed and asleep, guess they thought I'd be dangerous to have kids running around it was a very high hill, about as tall as a 5 year old). The next morning there was not hill just a black circle of dirt.
DeleteThey have mainly been eradicated down here. If there is any eivdence of them on rural properties it has to be reported to the authorities immediately.I have never actually seem any.
ReplyDelete