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Open Poetry #43
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Midnitesun
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0 posted 2008-07-24 08:22 AM



I listen quietly
to the silence of the night
and wonder

where have they gone?

As a child,
summer nights
were filled
with sounds of
busy chirping crickets,
boisterous frogs,
'buzzard-size-skeeters'
hovering 'round the ears
that sounded
much like
those planes in old WW movies
about to unload
their deadly payload.

Where have they gone?

Look under your sink
or in your closet.
Read the labels
on all those bug sprays,
toxic cleaning compounds,
those make-my-life-easier products,
and part of the answer
will be all too obvious.

The concept
'Live and let live'
applies
to all
of life.

  

© Copyright 2008 Kathleen Kacy Stafford - All Rights Reserved
kaile
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singapore
1 posted 2008-07-24 11:04 AM


LOL at the comparison made to WWII planes. who would have thought?
Prasad Nataraj
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since 2008-05-29
Posts 1149
Bangalore,India
2 posted 2008-07-24 12:14 PM


Hi Midnitesun, I live in a place that is quiet far away from the actual city, I am happy I live here, I can listen to the crickets,  frogs, bats etc…and they keep me awake all night sometimes, I pity the people who live in the city. Your poem reminds me of my friends in the city, they miss such simple joy nature brings… I don’t have bug sprays listed in my monthly budget… Enjoyed this poem.
let me check the list once again… Prasad

Midnitesun
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3 posted 2008-07-24 01:10 PM


LOL, thanks for reading, kaile. Sometimes that's what they sound like!
I understand we need 'protection' from West Nile virus and things like malaria,
but don't need to kill every flying thing in sight!
Prasad, you are indeed, the lucky one in my humble opinion, to stay awake, or fall asleep, to the sounds of nature!
**Thank you for not poisoning Gaia.    

OwlSA
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since 2005-11-07
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Durban, South Africa
4 posted 2008-07-24 01:56 PM


Enjoyed your poem, Kacy.  Like Prasad, I, too, am lucky, to hear night sounds in my indigenous forest garden, sometimes, though, not always.

- Owl

Marchmadness
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since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
5 posted 2008-07-24 01:59 PM


I miss some of those things too, Kacy.
It seems that many people find nature annoying and are ready to get whatever find inconvenient.
                              Ida

Artic Wind
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Realm of Supernatural
6 posted 2008-07-24 02:38 PM


I ENJOYED!!!! A lot Midnitesun...



ARCTIC WIND

Midnitesun
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7 posted 2008-07-24 03:21 PM


Owl, Ida, Arctic...thank you for your comments!
The missing frog sounds are ominous.
I do have a resident toad who hides behind my potted plants and rocks, but I was hoping to see and hear frogs by the local pond or river.
I can't say I miss the mosquitoes though. We've had very few this summer, even living close to a river.

ArtSolstice
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Posts 498

8 posted 2008-07-24 03:57 PM


Fine words here, Midnitesun!  
Ericc
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9 posted 2008-07-24 04:07 PM


Excellent write!

Eric

Midnitesun
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10 posted 2008-07-24 04:22 PM


Thank you ArtSolstice and Eric!
Stay tuned for the next 'silent night' episode.
LOL, it will be the flip-side of this, entitled  'Cicada Serenade.'

serenity blaze
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since 2000-02-02
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11 posted 2008-07-24 04:39 PM


moan.......y'little "tease" you! I miss those too!

Down here in swampland, and here's what I don't understand--we have trucks piping pesticides into our air, about three times a week. Why do they seem to kill everything but the mosquitoes and termites?

(Maybe it just seems that way...but man.)

Again, you bring back the fond memories of "lightnin' bug lanterns" and other childhood joys I'd thought I'd forgotten.

Come to think of it--I haven't seen a "Sphinx Moth" in a very long time either....pout. (Now those are cool, they fly like hummingbirds--little helicopters, yanno?)

Namaste' Kacy. I'll shaddup now. Y'keep the ink sacred.

Spuddette
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since 2008-07-03
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England
12 posted 2008-07-24 04:43 PM


Very nostalgic and thought provoking. thank you. xx janet xx
serenity blaze
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Posts 27738

13 posted 2008-07-24 04:50 PM


I forgot somethin'. (I wouldn't be me if I didn't.)

But if you haven't seen this, check out what Karen the cave coveter found in her Yahoo news today:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_sc/exploring_snowy_river;_ylt=Al2yGPL.ZTicdItT2y59OGJsaMYA


Y'don't suppose they'd let me have that one, eh? *drools*

Check out the slide show--can you imagine that place lit by candlelight?


Midnitesun
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14 posted 2008-07-24 05:42 PM


Thanks for the link, Karen. What a cool place! I'm actually glad they've closed it off to all but bonafide researchers, or you'd have people down there chipping away at that stuff and scraping ancient microbes off the walls.
Hmm, wonder if JM knows what happened to your Sphinx moth population?

XOx Uriah xOX
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since 2006-02-11
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Virginia
15 posted 2008-07-24 06:15 PM


No need to drop napalm when a fly swatter will do.   I love listening to all the tree frogs and bullfrogs at night.  My ears cannot hear crickets anymore. Too much loud music and gun fire in my youth  ::shrugs::  or current ear wax.
A very ancient looking tree frog has taken up residence in one of our bird houses. Each evening he sits on the edge of the entry hole, with his eyes half closed, looking very much like Yoda.
I think there is a tick entrapped by my thigh.   I must go set him free.  ::smiles::   enjoyed

vandana
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16 posted 2008-07-24 06:16 PM


good read
Midnitesun
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17 posted 2008-07-24 08:45 PM


Thanks, Vandana.
Uriah! so it's free-the-ticks-time now?
Aren't ticks the original Red Cross nurses?!
I'd love to see a photo of that Yoda!  

Alison
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18 posted 2008-07-26 11:58 PM


I was camping in Colorado once and the crickets were so loud at night that I couldn't sleep!  They drove me nuts - at first, I thought they were frogs.  I had never heard crickets before.  Little buggers are loud!!!

A

Margherita
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since 2003-02-08
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Eternity
19 posted 2008-07-27 06:41 AM


Thank you dear Kacy for this very appropriate lament.

Though I am a favorite victim of mosquitos, I hate it that we can't fight them with less destructive products.

I was so happy recently when I heard a cricket! Yes it was only one in the many trees around here. I welcomed her in my heart.... then they came to spray the poison meant for the mosquitos and that single voice died too ...

Summer and crickets went together, I loved that tune ...

Love,
Margherita

poddarku
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since 2008-01-15
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india
20 posted 2008-07-29 09:40 AM


very touching. it syrikes the chord of nostalgia in a reader
Midnitesun
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21 posted 2008-07-29 07:27 PM


Alison, Margherita, kushal, thank you for reading and caring about the little critters.
Robert E. Jordan
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since 2008-01-25
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
22 posted 2008-07-29 09:20 PM


Yo Midnitesun,

Sorry Hon, I can’t go with you on this trip.  

It’s a constant war between us and them.  

If you had ever met a kid really sick with malaria, perhaps you wouldn’t be so hot on mosquitoes.

The only good mosquitoe is a dead mosquitoe.

Bobby

Gentle Spirit
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since 2000-10-09
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23 posted 2008-07-29 09:47 PM


Kacy, the messages that you always layer within your words are timeless truths..

I've so missed reading you hon.  A pleasure to read this tonight. Hugs ~D

Midnitesun
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24 posted 2008-07-30 09:15 AM


Bobby, LOL, I'm not starting a save-the-skeeter campaign specifically, just your basic "Stop-killing-everything-on-Gaia" approach.

Donna, thank you hon, so happy to have a visit from you, gentle lady!!

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