The Anteater and the Ants

Let me relate a little parable about 
command and control and consequences. 
Let me spoon-feed you a story that will slap the senses. 
Imagine for a moment an anteater stuck in a hole. 
And down this hole in his misery he cried 
out into the confounding, starless night 
until at break of day he saw arrayed 
on the rim of the hole a thousand thousand ants. 
Against all reason, and according to the logic of fables, 
the ants knotted themselves into anty cables 
and hauled the anteater out. Is there any doubt 
about what happened next? Any doubt at all? 
What did you think the anteater would do? 
Instinct races ahead and compassion slows to a crawl. 
No one in power gives a shit about you. 
If they cared, then you’d have power, too. 

ERIK KENNEDY

Erik Kennedy’s latest book is Another Beautiful Day Indoors (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2022). His work has been published in places like FENCE, The Florida Review, Hobart, Poetry, Poetry Ireland Review, the TLS, and Western Humanities Review. Originally from New Jersey, he lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.