Questing is a host-seeking behavior in which ticks ascend plants, extend their front legs, and wait poised for a chance to attach to a passing host.
—Annals of the Entomological Society (online)
As if each Ixodes scapularis sets off
alone, on a journey of self-discovery.
It creeps through the leaf litter
between the lines of nature poems, moving
its mouthpart barbs as it reads. Waiting
on a path for an epiphany,
it meditates and writes in its journal,
strikes yoga poses, front leg raises,
has fantasies about speed-dating mammals.
Be slow to judge. This may be a worthy spirit
totem, searching for life’s meaning and heart’s
desire in attachments to others.
Richard Ewald divides his time between South Wellfleet and Westminster, Vt.
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