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Red Ants

Tom Vandel
Sep 1, 2024
1 min read

Today,

He can’t recall

Where he got the notion

That red ants would not bite him,

As if he had some kind of force field or

Natural superpower, but he was convinced of it.

And to prove it, he sat down in the dirt atop a hill

Of angry ants as his astonished buds looked on.

Cocky grin soon turned to chagrin

And with legs afire in cutoffs,

He leapt up scratching and

Howling and hopping

Like a rabid rabbit,

Realizing he was

Clearly wrong.

He was not

Special.

Not a

Bit.


By Tom Vandel

(Originally published in Bel Esprit June 2023)


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