A crowded tangle of twigs,
a scout with a bright idea;
conspiring alone at the jumping-off point
of an ambitious treasure hunt.
 

_____________________________________
Ant | Hymenoptera | Apocrita | Vespoidea | Formicidae

Fly this fast and the world never looks the same,
the tipsy universe whips by in a wing’s beat.
 

_____________________________________
Honey bee | Apis mellifera

A spontaneous leap into a new space age,
escaping an exhausted flower, ignoring old sign-posts.
 

_____________________________________
Honey bee | Apis mellifera

“Who the hell do you think you are?

Don’t promise me the impossible!”
 

_____________________________________
Sparrow | Passer domesticus
House Finch | Carpodacus mexicanus

Chasing the summer madness,
unlocking a fearless wind,
drunk songbirds get their wild-eyed kicks.
 

_____________________________________
Sparrow | Passer domesticus

A young mantis takes a curious turn,
exploring a place seldom noticed,
lost to a larger world,
illuminated by scattered diamonds.
 

_____________________________________
Praying Mantis | Tenodera aridifolia sinensis

A toy-box explorer with a troubled back-story
attempts to map the overcrowded microwilderness,
finding larger patterns in the small spaces between buds.
 

_____________________________________
Ant | Hymenoptera | Apocrita | Vespoidea | Formicidae

A star in her own show,
a worn and slightly disheveled songbird,
between the lightning and the wild rain.
 

_____________________________________
Sparrow | Passer domesticus

Impossibly complex abstraction reigns,
cobbling together a life from scavenged freedom.
 

. . . and a detail:

_____________________________________
Turkey Vulture | Cathartes aura

The Grand Canyon? Barsoom? Pandora? Maybe.
 

No bigger than a moonlet,
Queen of an alien laboratory for spontaneous choreography,
a spider squares the circle at the labyrinth’s center.
 

_____________________________________
Spider | Arachnid