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Poetry & Free Verse
Challenge Ended
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Ended May 25, 2024 • 10 Entries • Created by Last
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Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Cover image for post Gathering..., by LARGE
Profile avatar image for LARGE
LARGE in Poetry & Free Verse
36 reads

Gathering...

The clouds do their part

and on the underside

Aphids fall full tilt

fresh with chlorophyll

though turned dark

And it's an odd

collusion within

Natural law, macabre

noir, that Ladybugs

return to the scene

scattered & blotting

up the lost spots...

2024 MAY 18

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for flashgordon
flashgordon in Poetry & Free Verse
28 reads

I press you in a book

my oh so perfect rose

only to open it later

and find sap sucking

soft body creatures

eating my words

gobbling pages

giving birth

to winged

females

who fly

in my face

like so much

confetti celebrating

my inability to sustain

a recollection of being loved

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for DandelionWine
DandelionWine in Poetry & Free Verse
34 reads

Hands

A hand rough with callouses, pushes little indents in the soft brown soil. A chubby dimpled fist drops two or three seeds in each little hole. Every day, those hands carefully water the seedlings. They shoot up fast and strong. But the hands stop coming. The young plants struggle to push their roots through the drying soil. Soon, the yellowed leaves shiver in the blistering breeze. Their shriveled stems cling desperately to the stalk. The entire plant is stunted. No flowers have bloomed. No fruit has ripened.

Finally, the chubby hands return and trace a dimpled finger over the dying crops. A soft pair of hands that the plants have never seen before pinches a leaf between the forefinger and thumb and plucks it. It shows the leaf to the small one. "Aphids on the underside."

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for pretty_archaic
pretty_archaic in Poetry & Free Verse
17 reads

Farm

Ants farm aphids,

If you did not know.

They herd and work aphids

As we do cattle,

An old man once told me

Over a cafeteria lunch.

Nodding, I tried to move away

Politely, or so I thought.

’Get away from me,

You old man,’ said I,

Though only to myself.

‘You old lousy, creepy farmer.’

I spoke none of this, still,

He wore an expression

Like a simple child,

A sad hound dog pup,

And I knew he could feel

My seething hatred of him.

’Bee Kind,’ said his hat.

How am I such a cruel young woman?

Men I fear, but bugs and beasts—

They are much scarier than

Poor Old Joe

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for pchiefc
pchiefc in Poetry & Free Verse
12 reads

Aphids on the Underside

3, 2, 1….. Clang! Clang!

And just look at those feisty aphids on the underside of the Giant Hickory bark!

Watch the crowd of onlookers as their mouths drop during this fiasco!

Oh ho ho!

This speed-eating contest is by far

an all-out slob-fest!

And these wee, tiny pests are suckling like little madmen

for the sweet, sticky sap

that drips on the nether halves of these bark loaves,

to see who can achieve first place

for expanding their perky, pear-shaped bellies to that of a prickly-pineapple figure!

30 seconds left!

Here we go now on to the final ticks of the clock!

And for all of us gathered here at Bluefern Forest to encourage the festivities,

we have come to find ourselves

drenched in the saliva-goo that escapes the lips within this hungry chow-down!

Blah! (Who would’ve thought to bring an umbrella?!)

5 seconds to go!

And 3, 2, 1! Cling! Cling!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Please, stand up, young, yellow fellow!

Ladies and gentlemen, your new champion of speed-bark-eating in the Aphid category:

Alphonse Beech!

Let this be an honor to you, young speckle,

for rightly did you entertain the eager audience today!

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for 7v7
7v7 in Poetry & Free Verse
21 reads

For Dear Life

the aphid sees itself

as it hangs

eye candy,

for the lady birds

like a ripe emerald

pendulant around

the apple of the throat

a repulsive delight

sees itself

suspended

by spindly feet as

a dew drop reflects

the circumstance

of holding on

by a straw,

recognized

for what it is,

by human passersby's

05.19.2024

Aphids on the Underside challenge @Last

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for Jona
Jona in Poetry & Free Verse
22 reads

Bugs

Legs legs legs legs legs legs

Licking leaves underneath

Til the day turns hot

Creeping up the aphid covered grass

Til they cover me at last

With their tiny little limbs

flower friend beside me eaten he is not

crawled upon by the crass

open up my stems to lay your itty bitty

eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for thisisit
thisisit in Poetry & Free Verse
11 reads

Aphids on the Underside

aphids on the underside

as the sun rises, a fleeting moment

of serenity before the riptide

lady bug on a windowsill

make a wish, your breath

caused a hurricane in its world

it’s all relative, this

moment in time

aphids on the underside

or, how does life look

when a bigger force, an ocean

of waves, can literally

wipe your existence away

when each second

is a lifetime, your life expectancy

just one day, you would

hang out where no one

can see you, too, and fly away

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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Funkn83 in Poetry & Free Verse
16 reads

Shelter through the seasons

Drowning rains of spring,

Lead to the summers heats sting.

Autumn dry and dying in its golden glow.

As winters biting winds blow,

And gardens cease to grow,

Still the leaves hide

The aphids on the underside

3
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Challenge
Aphids on the Underside
(: free write using this line or its reflection, no need to tag me, I will respond and thank you for your creativity in advance :)
Profile avatar image for ColdBirDee
ColdBirDee in Poetry & Free Verse
19 reads

Aphids on the Underside

Delicacy to the ladybug

The aphids hide from her

Underside the leaf, underneath her

Feel the vibrations of her walking above

Wonder briefly about if boy ladybugs exist

And as if the thought alerted her

She lowers herself to their level

The Aphids on the Underside

Feel the vibrations of her walking alongside them

Briefly, the delicate aphids are on her level

A wondrous thought of community, of not being alone

Ladybug on the underside

The Aphids on the Underside were never there

The Aphids on the Upside

Delicate company to the ladybug

The aphids hide from her

Upside the leaf, over her

Feel the vibrations of them walking above

Wonder briefly if they care about if boy ladybugs exist

And the thought alerted her

She raises herself to their level

The Aphids

Feel her feasting

Wondrously, briefly - as if they were never there

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