Geosonnet 15
The ants which scuttle by between our toes
Dissolve the min’rals of the Earth we tread
The calcic feldspar, slipped under their nose
Ten trillion insects weather, pit, and shred.
The Himalayan mountains cool the Earth
Though mangroves and the grasses do their part,
But ants may do what was the work of turf
By min’ralizing CO2, they start
Evaporating seas in Neogene
Drying the Earth to suit their sandy hives
Anthropocene becomes the Formicene
The terraformic swarm constructs, connives.
No human teamwork
makes emissions slow
Yet toiling ants
sequester far below.
2 comments:
The pedant strikes, and suggests:
The ants which scuttle by beneath our paws
Dissolve the min’rals of the Earth we tread
The calcic feldspar, splintered by their jaws,
Ten trillion insects weather, pit, and shred.
...because ants don't have noses, you know. On the other hand, the article is paywalled, and the abstract doesn't say whether they actually break up feldspar with their jaws.
Poetic license has been taken.
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