# Anteater/Antbear



## Simo (May 17, 2016)

OK, I should start sharing some writing, since it what I do, and not be all shy! From a series on various animals, inspired by random things...
*

Anteater/Antbear*

Striding on curved fore-claws
across the Mato Grosso
you stop
almost casually 
to slip 
a long tongue
down this or that hill:
Antbear, what’s it like to go through life with no teeth?
Sucking it up
as the ranchers
hunt you down 
& drive you out to raise cattle,
the drone of tractors and engines like foreign insects,
as the dust kicked up by hooves
blows across the denuded brush.

All you ever sought were ants-who wants ants?

You lap up your fill
of workers and drones
but never kill the queen
the colony, 
the infinite underground cities,
that supporting substrata---
but there’s fewer of you now
cutting the grasslands with your stiff broom tails,
and alone now
wandering and distant
you scent the master’s boy
with his feeble binoculars
& the gun his dad gave him, his first, 
& as he stalks along squinting into the early AM sun
you rise up above him,
knock him to the ground,
your claws swiping at his soft face like scissors,
& you leave him there,
collapsed,
bleeding,
the carcass picked over by buzzards- 
covered now 
with a gentle blanket of ants.

-© Simo-Skunk, 2014/2015


Comments and questions appreciated!


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## SGRedAlert (May 18, 2016)

I feel like I just went on a rollercoaster. This is legitimately one of the only truly enjoyable works I've found on FA or the forums (admittedly I don't read a lot because 99% of what I find is 'waah i'm sad' stuff.)
Seriously! Applause. That was wonderful!


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## Wither (May 18, 2016)

I disagree with the human abuse. Animals abusing humans is disgusting. I will not stand for it.

Also I liked it.


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## Simo (May 19, 2016)

SGRedAlert said:


> I feel like I just went on a rollercoaster. This is legitimately one of the only truly enjoyable works I've found on FA or the forums (admittedly I don't read a lot because 99% of what I find is 'waah i'm sad' stuff.)
> Seriously! Applause. That was wonderful!



Thanks, it's great to hear some feedback! It is a danger to wanna write 'wah, I'm sad' stuff, I'll have to agree...I decided I'd try to start writing some poems that were not in the first person, to try to avoid that. I still will use the 'I' point of view, sometimes, but I try to be careful.



Wither said:


> I disagree with the human abuse. Animals abusing humans is disgusting. I will not stand for it.
> 
> Also I liked it.



Thanks! My poems generally don't have too much violence; the animal series has some, as I suppose it's part of nature; prey and predator, and what not, so those images come into play more.


Huh, well, I'll post some more from this series...the animals this series covers so far are: Red Fox, Groundhogs, Owl, Skunk and Earthworms. (In the works: Mallards/Ducks, Mongoose, Fossa)


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## reptile logic (May 21, 2016)

Poetic justice. I worry for the anteater. Humans tend to exact 'revenge'.

Keep writing what you feel, and post only what you want to share. Not every passage needs to be shared. Some is just for ourselves; an outlet. My opinions, and mine alone.


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