The 2011 Bogong Invasion
by jax Saturday, Dec 28 2013, 11:20am
international / poetry / post

Stadium lights swamped by moths

they congregate in
response to some mysterious
call
forming nocturnal assemblies
thick blankets of fluttering wings
draped on walls
overhangs
and around sources of light
in the blackness of night

it is a mass migration
to cooler climes
that impels them en masse
to terrorise any surface-dwelling
community

by sheer force of numbers
-- millions --
a moth becomes a monster
clogging air-con ducts and
pouring into every unsealed crevice
and fissure of unmaintained
buildings in the capital

a political capital brought to its knees
by a humble moth
that demonstrates to
an apathetic nation
the power of unified will and desire

a highly effective formula
and simple strategy
reduces a modern city to
its knees;
how much more effective
the unified voice
and will of the people
demanding
justice, freedom and equity?

it is well that nature reminds a
complacent, arrogant species
of simple and effective strategies --
an exploited and abused population
shamed by a moth