"Pride of the Marines"

The carpenters are intrusive 

Scurrying about their routines of the day

Invading the tacky linoleum of the pantry

Foraging for, and finding the food and water

They’ll lay claim to.

On the kitchen counter, one seems meditating

At the altar to the crumb of something,

Frozen in the ecstasy of its quiet benediction.

My young mother, most-often gracious and understanding

Sprayed it in the face with a can of "Raid".

“Get ‘im in the eyes, Mom! Right in the eyes!”

At the crumb of something,—

Mountain of sustenance to the carpenter ant,

It curled to a crackling fetal position and was surely dead.

Clearing the battlefield

With a swipe of the kitchen dishrag

Across the green formica, hard-hearted

As the steel of the carpenter's nail,

My young mother pushed onward,

Defending her house and its stores,

Into the theater of war at 1017 Bedford,

First floor above the sidewalk sewer which drank foul balls

Expansive ballpark, church, and gas station views

Rent, $15.00 payable on Fridays by the close of business

Heat and hot water included.

Quequechan