Species Profile: Mosquito
By Cynthiann Heckelsmiller (Weber State University)
MOSQUITO
A Spoken Word Poem
To be read aloud, with bongos, if possible
Culicidae, illicit day ruiner
I ID you within an instant and a slap
And don’t need to know you have scaly veins
Or, a long proboscis, Or
No ocelli, Or
One unforked vein between two forked veins on your distil wing
To know you are a nuisance.
Three subfamilies
Vying for my delicious red people-juice.
No Anophelinae, you don’t have to stand on your head to get it.
Culincinae, you’re too pervasive.
Toxorhynchitinae, you’re just too darn big.
Perhaps you all have abandonment issues.
Mom left you in the puddle with your brothers and sisters
And never looked back.
As larvae, you breathed through a snorkel on your abdomen—yes
You breathed through your butt.
The next few weeks of your life you spend as a
Predating pupae, picking on those smaller than you
Even though you are basically a shrimp yourself.
Then it’s out for days or weeks—you don’t know.
If you’re a guy, get mating and pollinating.
The clock is ticking!
Ladies get to biting.
You are fodder for fowl, their own Soylent Green,
Vacation smorgasbord.
Or, get swatted by me. Revenge!
For your irritating saliva and persistent whine.
Perhaps you’re misunderstood, yeah
You have a place in this world
Aldo’s cog in the wheel.
I would feel more sympathy but—
You’ve never been bitten by a mosquito.
Fin
Drawing by Cynthiann Heckelsmiller