January 6th

By Sherry Stuart Berman

when they are ants
world is colony is home
is superorganism

single-file, no ears
they feel vibrations
with their feet
rely on scent
for instruction

they are trash-handlers,
excavators, swarm
when called to

and when their king
corrupts their wings
and rots the wood
and steals their eggs
they carry him
(they are very fine)

how grateful are they
how grateful are they
world is colony is home is white

Sherry Stuart Berman’s poems have appeared in Paterson Literary Review, Guesthouse, 2 Horatio, The Night Heron Barks, Atticus Review, Rise Up Review, and in the anthologies Malala: Poems for Malala Yousafzai and Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books. She is a psychotherapist in private practice and lives in Staten Island, NY, with her husband and son.

Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash.