THE SHINE JOURNAL | Flash Literature, Poetry, Art and Photography!

Sonnet of the Ant on the Lam

Edward D. Nudelman

The ant that carried my lunch away

back to his lair to feed his family

(a fragment of pink honeyed ham)

did not pause to ask, and is now on the lam.

No farewell nod or hint of gratitude,

no impish antennae waggle—how rude!

With nary a blink from a compound eye

he sidled off with his prize held high.

I would have asked the connoisseur

(with the compound eye) if he’d rather prefer

a piece of cake or a wedge of cheese;

but he took it without a simple “please,”

A fragment of fine pink honeyed ham;

and now the exoskeleton is on the lam.

Edward D. Nudelman Shares...

EDWARD NUDELMAN is a graduate of the University of Washington and is working in the Boston area as a scientist in the field of cancer research. Some of his poems have been published in The Orange Room Review, The White Leaf Review, Alone Together, Adagio Verse Quarterly, Because We Write, Thick with Conviction, Dispatch Lit Review and now Shine. He has received awards for his prose and has written two acclaimed books on a 20th Century American artist. He is a correspondent on poetry for Gather, an NPR-funded writing vehicle. What prompted him to write this poem? "Well, shoot, I love arthropods. They're so industrious and efficient; everything that I'm not. I also love the sonnet structure. However, it can get a little serious sometimes. Every now and then I like to make the sonnet pay for its strict 14-line requirement, and fill it full of fluff. This silly poem was fun to write, and I must confess, came from nowhere sublime or noble in my soul. Just a wicked desire to put an ant into a sonnet. And perhaps evoke a laugh or two."