Beetles Bug Me

[ellyssian]

Beetles Bug Me
July 17, 2005

Two rocks
in hand
"to grind yer bones"
we say,
but the Japanese Beetles
aren't that bright
and they remain
on leaves
half-way skeletonized
until the rocks meet
and they lie in between.

Mostly they are found in pairs -
one on top of the other
(Gee Dubya wouldn’t approve
of such flagrant displays in public,
and, for once, I must agree)
but they end the same,
and the daddy long legs come
along the kiwi leaves
like vultures on stilts
to finish off the job.

They begin their lives in lawns -
other peoples lawns, so far,
by the way they come in waves
from one downwind, downroad direction -
white grubs munching grassroots like politics,
so that it may still look good on the surface (for a little while),
but it comes up easily like a rug (or a bad hairpiece)
revealing the corruption within.

They tackle the sassafras first,
its lemon-scented leaves shaped
like an innocent child's mitten;
last year they decided they liked wisteria,
but this year they seem
to have given it a pass
(after munching half of it)
and have discovered a new love: kiwi.

And now, today, they've
decided chestnut is to their taste,
but someone at last has decided they taste good -
as I watched an assassin bug
move quickly to the underside of a leaf
to enjoy a good meal
and to fight the good fight.

Copyright (c) 2005 Everett Ambrose Warren

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

They are omnleafvorous! i never thought of grinding them. I wonder if you
put some ground up bug on a plant if their relatives would fly away?

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Probably not - they actually leave an attractant on the plants they like, which is why so many show up on the same plants (sometimes sparing identical ones right next to them...)

I expect that the attractant stays when they get squashed, but I don't know for sure.