If Ants Ruled The World

Poem by Marianna Pizzini Mankle

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tornado season blooms
with the promise of rain, 
but more often than not 
it harvests fear and bugs. 
creepy crawly 
little buggers
that fly, or scuttle, or
make chittering sounds
beside your ear. even the pale
winds and summer breezes
fail to interrupt their parade. but
how strong
how resilient
how fortunate
we are to watch the world’s
smallest conquerers keep
living, keep moving, keep building
when we, the world’s
largest subduers, fail to
be the winning force against
a natural army.

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Marianna Pizzini Mankle (she/her/hers) is a Montana native who now calls Nebraska home. She has an MA in Communication from Arizona State University. Her writing can be found in Kiosk, Querencia Press, Calla Press, Writeresque Literary Magazine, and more. She can be found watching reality TV with her husband when she isn't writing.