NaPoWriMo 23

The Killer of Ants

Because spring shakes everything
from a cold, dead sleep, ants have
found their way into our bathroom
They can go anywhere,
take their cities on their backs
yet they come here to the rooms
in which we spend our lives.
Here, they find an unhappy ending.

I show my son how I pinch them
between my fingers and toss
their tiny bug bodies in the sink.
Together we watch them swirl away,
my swift anger fulfilled. Now he hunts alone,
surprised at how adept he is to catch and kill.
I have taught him this and he does it well,
like someone who has always known
how to hold a thing in his hands
and destroy it.