I went for a walk in a field one day in June, and there I found the insects performing one of their duties to nature.  They were seeking out the flowers, islands of color in a mostly green sea, and exploring them for whatever sustenance they needed.  If they found a particular flower not to their liking, they would move to its neighbor, taking with them its pollen and the pollen of flowers it had previously investigated.  The process could be described as the insect version of bar hopping, except each bar’s supply of alcohol is dependent on the patrons bringing brewing ingredients from other bars.

Some bars were more popular than others.  One dandelion had four insects crawling over it – a bee and three shiny beetles that I decided were brothers.  The bee landed daintily at the edge of the petals, but the beetle brothers dove in head first, searching for the good stuff.  Their legs flailed and kicked to push themselves as deep as possible into the dense mass of petals.  There was no secret how they got covered in pollen.  I imagined college-aged brothers reveling in an open bar at a friend’s wedding, moving from tap to tap as each ran dry. 

One tan and yellow insect caught my eye because she contrasted so sharply with the thistle’s flower she was inspecting, which was an eye-stinging shade of fuchsia.  She didn’t seem to mind my staring at her since she continued on with her business as if I wasn’t there, as far as I could tell.  She picked her way over the narrow petals, precisely placing each foot before moving another.  Her antennae moved purposefully, and I saw in my mind a discerning shopper slowly making her way through the produce section inspecting each potato, each lime, and every apple.  She was covered in yellow pollen, some of which she would leave behind, and some of which she would carry on to other flowers. 

Whether discerning shoppers or enthusiastic drunks, these insects do their part for nature.  Maybe we should too. 

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A new poem called “Danger! Turn Back!” is available now.