🇬🇧 Sailmount Channel Assembly of Clades

Sailmount Channel Assembly of Clades
The Procession of Insects

Sailmount Channel is a small location in Western Jutland, Denmark. It consists of inland dunes, heath, meadows and a low coniferous pine plantation planted in 1897 to prevent sand drift. In 1960 my grandparents bought the location, approximately 20 acres of land. Since then it has been left untouched, except for the construction of a small holiday cottage. The property is currently owned by two of my cousins. One of them, Thomas Holm, has for the past 15 years documented wildlife - in photos and text - in an approximate radius of 200 meters around the cottage. The documentation is publicly available and forms the basis for this poem. The name Sailmount (Sejlbjerg) is historically accurate but does not appear on any present-day map.

I.     Dedication
II.    Proclamation
III.   Procession of Moths
IV.    Interpellation
V.     Procession of True Bugs
VI.    Invocation
VII.   Procession of Hymenoptera
VIII.  Observation
IX.    Procession of Arachnids
X.     Procession of Beetles
XI.    Interpellation
XII.   Declaration
XIII.  Procession of Beetles (cont.)
XIV.   Intermission
XV.    Procession of Diptera
XVI.   Intermission
XVII.  Procession of Diptera (contnd.)
XVIII. Jurisdiction
XIX.   Procession of Diptera (contnd.)
XX.    Procession of Butterflies
XXI.   Procession of Grasshoppers and Dragonflies
XXII.  Procession of Mayflies and Caddisflies
XXIII. Conclusion

I. Dedication

2399.  One thousand three hundred plus insect species
       Counted in Sailmount Channel's natural niches

2400.  From two hundred families taxonomical,
       Based on a system strictly anatomical,

2401.  Endlessly classified in genera galore,
       Because anarchy is what our minds abhor,

2402.  And why we understand all things by metaphor,
       Otherwise the world is much too big, and therefore

2403.  The better the metaphor, the better we find
       The world within our grasp by words of some kind,

2404.  And thus to master our grim reality
       And the very meaning of life eventually,

2405.  The meaning to set us free spiritually,
       Itself a metaphor for all mortality;

2406.  Hence, and because I revere life in any form,
       Indeed, see panpsychic consciousness as a norm,

2407.  I dedicate these lines set in my choice of verse
       In rhymed heroic couplets for better or worse,

2408.  In honor of all insects alive and buzzing,
       To the labour of love begun by my cousin (1).

II. Proclamation

2409.  Hear the convocation to the congress of things,
       Calling upon ten thousand feet, claws, fins and wings;

2410.  Sailmount Channel bids the entire biota
       To assemble and use your family quota;

2411.  Send representatives from all resident clades,
       Moving and rooted life of all ilks, shapes and shades;

2412.  There’s a stir and a whirr in the grass and the air
       As the quorum of species gathers at the fair;

2413.  Plants, fungi, mammals, birds and insects of the land,
       Welcome delegates; be counted and take your stand;

2414.  Open the gates and let the procession begin,
       Look! The tribunes of insects come rallying in.

III. Procession of Moths

2415.  The order of moths are first in the procession
       Of descendents and kinship in evolution;

2416.  Sphinx moths with luminous eyes and fur like a bee,
       With a whirr of wings and tongues like the colibree;

2417.  The lappet moths, long-snouted and with hirsute legs,
       Rusty-red colours, featherhorns and lionheads;

2418.  Metalmark moths, scales and bands with a glossy shine
       Across wings where colouring and patterns align;

2419.  The grass moths, a diverse family of creatures,
       Since the cretaceous an adaptation of features;

2420.  The momphas, here a few species inhabitate,
       Small, fuzzy tails and earthy colours dominate;

2421.  The plume moths, a remarkable feathery shape,
       A woollen aeroplane flying the meadowscape;

2422.  Hornet moths, clever mimicry, a wasp-true clone,
       Bee-veined wings, a bushy tail and a menace drone;

2423.  Snout moths, many with a pout and furry nose,
       Small and grey, yet out here we meet many of those;

2424.  Twirler moths, larvae of enormous appetite,
       Huge family, but on Sailmount a seldom sight;

2425.  Burnet moths have signal power in red and black,
       Metal gloss, massive horns take predators aback;

2426.  Longhorn moths, fine antennas afloat and fairy,
       Tireless swarmer of the seductionary;

2427.  The geometer moths, a world cartographer,
       Body disguised as twig, inchwise cryptographer;

2428.  The erebidae, all colours under the sky,
       Brightly cloaked and a pleasure to the human eye;

2429.  Case-bearers and bagmoths, two offspring specialists
       Toting their eggs like micro spawn parentalists,

2430.  The ermine moth, the hooktip and the stilted moth,
       All three leafminers, richly dressed in royal cloth;

2431.  The prominents, jagged wingscales like a toothrack,
       Ferocious larvae-look thwart enemy attack;

2432.  The owlet moths, the largest familiy around,
       A testament to fitness, this species abound;

2433.  The micro-wings, tiny metallic bands of flames,
       An ancient tribe with bushy, orange-coloured manes;

2434.  Finally, the crafty moth familiy of tortrix,
       With leaf-roller camouflage in their bags of tricks;

2435.  We conclude the order of moths, great and numerous,
       Hail from the hemisphere to all the illustrious.

IV. Interpellation

2436.  As poet, I wonder, what does it resemble,
       This council, when all the delegates assemble?

2437.  A circle, a cross, a geometrical loop,
       A cone, a cube or all of them in one big swoop?

2438.  How do clades cast their ballots in open session?
       How do they even reach a common decision?

2439.  I think an explanation to all this is due,
       What is the drift of their debate; and is it true

2440.  They write the laws of nature, or, if you prefer,
       An inter-species constitution, as it were?

V. Procession of True Bugs

2441.  These are all good questions, to which we will reply,
       When our time comes, we will certainly show you why;

2442.  But look! The procession of true bugs will begin,
       A well-endowed tribe, watch them busy-beetling in;

2443.  Most common here are shield bugs and the cicada,
       With aquatic bugs, the full true bug armada;

2444.  The pirate bug, equipped with dagger-pointed beak
       Spike small mites and empties them with suction technique;

2445.  The plant bug family, ten thousand species plus,
       A branch of the shield bug clan living among us;

2446.  The water boatmen ply the ponds and shallow pools
       Preying on whatever from floating critter schools;

2447.  The planthopper cicadas are sometimes spotted
       With glass wings decorated and richly dotted;

2448.  Stink bugs wrap up in capsules of soft-winged panzer,
       Triangular back-badges and horns like lancer,

2449.  Seed bugs, a large family, vegans of passion
       Delightful body themes in a show of fashion;

2450.  Shield bugs and scentless plant bugs now make their entry,
       Their elythras bordered in splendid heraldry;

2451.  Leaf-footed bugs, tibia winged of Hermés glory,
       Tribal raconteurs of ancient beetle story;
       
2452.  Jewel bugs and assassin bugs on stealthy feet
       Step up to claim each their parliamentary seat;

2453.  Damsel bugs and lace bugs are knocking at the gate,
       Such fine creatures to round off the shield bug mandate;

2454.  Now a procession of cicada families,
       Common body plan with ample varieties;

2455.  The frog hopper, the plant hopper, the leaf hopper,
       Sapsuckers from the clan of cicadas proper;

2456.  The water striders hovering on pond and lake,
       Elegant and spindly, and ready to partake;

2457.  Last, two families of aphids and the plant louse,
       Now, all true bugs are seated in the Fauna House.

VI. Invocation

2458.  Your poet doubts his very own intelligence
       To describe, ya, to comprehend this opulence;

2459.  A gifted insect nation of endless wonders
       Fills the air, land and waters in lavish numbers;

2460.  All hydraulic joints and body parts assembled,
       A winged being sumptuously enabled;

2461.  Snap-primed organs and lightning physiognomy,
       A sensuous turmoil of crackling energy;

2462.  Life forms of infinite adaptability,
       Insects unfold their explosive diversity;

2463.  Lead me on then, let the procession continue,
       In attendance, dear colleagues, your grand retinue.

VII. Procession of Hymenoptera

2464.  If you search carefully the world´s vegetation
       The wasp species will number close to a million,

2465.  While the families of hornets, sawflies and bees
       Count an additional hundred thousand species;

2466.  To this add the biomass of ants, in essence
       Greater than all solitary homo sapiens;

2467.  Sailmount is home to only a few delegates
       From hymenoptera's cosmopolitan states;

2468.  The bees make up six families in procession
       On Sailmount in generational succession;

2469.  First to enter, leafcutting bees and mining bees,
       Both are handsome and industrious families;

2470.  Our short-tongued and long-tongued bees are on the fly
       In all manner of weather busybeeing by.

2471.  Sweatbees, numerous and found universally,
       The furrow bees and cuckoo bees especially;

2472.  The melitids with luxurious furry legs,
       Skilled harvesters of flower oils to grow their eggs;

2473.  Emerald and thread-waisted wasps on the Channel,
       Sculpted wire bodies, blue and gold enamel;

2474.  Gall wasps in unique host plant and egg dynamics,
       Artful jars, vases, cups and nodule ceramics;

2475.  A huge family of parasites, Ichneumon,
       Pathfinder, Aristotelean etymon;

2476.  Formidable ovipositors, body length,
       In a slender and javelinshaped show of strength;

2477.  Sand wasps disembowel larvae for offspring food,
       Like other wasp parasites injecting their brood;

2478.  Fearsome hornets round of the vespidae dynasty,
       The drone atop the hymenoptera hierarchy.

VIII. Observation

2479.  After a night of skilful yarning industry,
       Bushes festooned in dew-sparkling embroidery,

2480.  Arachnid patterns glistening on all Sailmount
       From a hundred species of spiders by our count,

2481.  The arachnid procession comes absailing in
       On silken threads wafted aloft by lazy wind,

2482.  Curved by sunrays the silk is all a-shimmering,
       So airy, the audience barely noticing

2483.  Spiders landing in golden ballooning descent,
       Carried on morning glory into parliament.

IX. Procession of Arachnids

2484.  Among orb weavers the garden variety
       The one of nursery rhyme notoriety;

2485.  But Sailmount Channel is home to a hundred more:
       Wasp spiders, sector and fourspot weavers galore;

2486.  Long-jawed weavers with their signal threads attached,
       Funnel web spiders lurk underground for the catch;

2487.  The crib-weaver and sac-spiders are both found here
       With bespoke nets and eggbaskets in polymere;

2488.  Wolf spiders, long-legged and black, on the look-out
       For youngsters in nursery sacs jostling about;

2489.  Jumping spiders sporting a big-size occular,
       Spiky-haired, hungry, they jump for the jugular;

2490.  A bright red mite of the family bdellidae
       Uses threads and spitshots to trap microfauna;

2491.  Slinking in, the long-clawed crabspider family,
       Lurking in flowers with gruesome lethality,

2492.  Sidles sideways to stab the pollinating prey,
       Kills, spikes and stirs, then sucks the hollow carcass dry;

2493.  A close relative, the running crabspider, slay,
       Athletic, quickfooted, sneaking up on its prey;

2494.  Harvestmen suspended under a wire frame,
       With such lengths of legs, to lose one is all the same;

2495.  A neuro-motoric feat to stay firmly leashed
       To this rack of legs stuck on to the wonderbeast;

2496.  Ground spiders, hunters with nets gladiatorwise
       To catch prey that are several times their own size;

2497.  Pirates twang the webbing of decent spider folks,
       Lure out the owner with their instrumental hoax;

2498.  They tripwire entire neighbourhoods at night,
       Spiders follow threads in to death by pirate bite;

2499.  An arachnid family, pseudoscorpions,
       Poison claw and embrace of out-size dimensions;

2500.  Sheetweb weavers, a well known guild on the Channel,
       Balloon pilots, weaving thick spidery flannel;

2501.  Lastly, a spider whose life is quite aquatic,
       Nesting, hunting and hibernation pneumatic;

2502.  This concludes the keynote arachnid panorama;
       Next up, the beetles, our must-see insect karma.

X. Procession of Beetles

2503.  Forty-three families in Sailmount habitats
       In more than three hundred species by our stats;

2504.  Hundreds of thousands more in every which way,
       So big is the order, one is tempted to say,

2505.  That the only thing we know with some certainty
       Of any form of existing divinity:

2506.  They have shown extraordinary predilection
       For all things beetle in natural selection;

2507.  As the poet waits for the parade to begin,
       Here are verses about their families and kin;

2508.  Marsh beetles, one of our species from the pond,
       A tiny oval of which we are very fond;

2509.  The leaf beetles living on the Channel include
       Large numbers of species of great fortitude;

2510.  They vegetate everywhere in plants and bushes,
       In flowers, grasses, mosses, small trees and rushes,

2511.  The leaf weevils protect their eggs and young instars
       By rolling them up in leaves like little cigars;

2512.  Softwinged beetles, slender minimalism,
       Serial bonkers given to veganism;

2513.  The wood borers of two kinds, unremarkable,
       Mostly where wood and timber is available;

2514.  The sap beetles, dull coloured, antennas with knobs,
       Feast on rotten fruit & veg with discerning gobs;

2515.  Shining flower beetles, a drop of ink still wet,
       Found in fungi or a composite flowerhead;

2516.  Flat bark beetles in fact match their name perfectly,
       Hence seldom seen, which is such a shame actually;

2517.  Whirligig beetles paddle on the waterflow,
       A split eye, one half above and on half below;

2518.  Carpet beetles, like a Soviet interior,
       Look like ladybirds only much less cheerier,

2519.  A superb garbage collector and omnivore
       Of nails, hooves, hair and skin from dead animal gore;

2520.  The ground beetle, a coal-black metallic athlete,
       Start/stop mechanisms in dread catapult feet:

2521.  This hunter, ambush runner and überbeetle,
       A perfect shape propelled by speed omnipetal;

2522.  The malachite beetles in red & black lacquer,
       White banded tails and a flashy pollen tracker;

2523.  The rove beetles, foundational insect pillar,
       Darting black cylindrical torpedokiller.

XI. Interpellation

2524.  We are now halfway thru' the manifestation,
       Let’s pause for a poetic evaluation;

2525.  A festive procession of insects passing by,
       Which no one, surely not me, will ever deny

2526.  Are astounding, some would even say sans pareil,
       Though some readers might grow weary along the way;

2527.  Let us take a break from the beetle rank and file
       And consider some basic concepts for a while.

2528.  As the poet, it's time for me to interpose,
       To avert a versified induced overdose.

XII. Declaration

2529.  Biodiversity, cause for celebration,
       But as to the size of it we have no notion;

2530.  Fine, if all we do is to enumerate them,
       But this poet also intends to narrate them;

2531.  Lines not only descriptive and poetical,
       But as a challenge factual and ethical;

2532.  Ants, beetles, bees, they will remain indifferent
       If our knowledge of them is insignificant;

2533.  If we ignore their sensations, even their names,
       Don't know their habits, their feeding and mating games,

2534.  And see nothing of their skilful intelligence,
       How can we understand this other sentience?

2535.  We hardly know them, it is not our culture,
       They're alienated as opposites, as nature;

2536.  But if either of the two were to be banished
       Then both of them fade to oblivion, vanished,

2537.  Sunk in to the inland dune, buried in the sand,
       We’re neither one nor the other in a dead land;

2538.  Hence I will endeavour two hundred verses more
       In reverence for species, to tally the score

2539.  Of insect families metrically curated,
       Readers' patience is gratefully appreciated.

XIII. Procession of Beetles (cont.)

2540.  Ladybirds, maybe the best known beetle of all,
       Children have loved them ever since they are small;

2541.  On Sailmount, the species number at least sixteen,
       Spot counts in increments from zero to nineteen;

2542.  The chequered beetle, half carpet beetle, half ant,
       White tail bands, a black and red ladybird transplant;

2543.  The formica beetles that really look like ants,
       The likeness is quite striking, in fact, it enchants;

2544.  The scarabs, one of them called the minotaurus,
       Tricorned, a rare and shiny beetleosaurus;

2545.  Hydraulic dungrollers, borers and shitpilers,
       These most indispensable beetle beguilers;

2546.  Nothing pleases them more than a big ball of dung
       To mine and excavate and to protect their young;

2547.  Cockchafers and dung beetles, faecal scientists,
       Among our finest sanitary specialists;

2548.  The colossal industry of the scarabee,
       A circle of life that few of us deign to see.

2549.  The fungus beetle, reclusive tiny critter,
       Lives off mould, spores & hyphae in leafy litter;

2550.  Darkling beetles from forest and desert niches,
       Spawn mealworms, otherwise a little known species;

2551.  The click beetle jumps with powerful snaps and leaps,
       Summersaults a full foot backwards, and off she sneaks;

2552.  Now a great commotion in carnival ingress,
       The true weevil family that always impress;

2553.  A lineage of ancient beings that arose
       With motley shields and antennas fixed on their nose,

2554.  Look like anything from camels to clams, they’re fun,
       Some red or woolly or with mouldy fleece-coats on;

2555.  Knobbly like oysters or iron-brownish like stone,
       Black bulging eyes and drooping trunks like sniffing bone;

2556.  The straight snouted weevil, endearing animal,
       Furry and expressive like a tiny mammal;

2557.  The blister beetles, one species in residence,
       Slender shields of copper & green iridescence;

2558.  The false flower beetles of the anaspies clan
       Sprinkle like seeds from flowers when shaken by hand;

2559.  The clown beetles sport beautiful wrought cuirasses,
       Rounded and compact like tiny calabashes;

2560.  Small carrion beetles will tell the time of death,
       Waiting wayside and counting your last dying breath;

2561.  Longhorn beetles, their horns primus inter pares,
       Step into procession in postures like sentries;

2562.  These elegant creatures that are much admired
       Enter the assembly, their heads fiercely spired;

2563.  The burrowing water beetles, small carnivores,
       Live by ponds and dig into silty corridors;

2564.  The water scavengers, another hydrophile,
       Submersible beetle rovers, quick and agile;

2565.  They communicate freely by sound and keening,
       Of which only they reckon their own true meaning;

2566.  They twitter and crackle in pursuit of courtship,
       Perhaps they find a match at the very first click;

2567.  In naming, the popular wit and imagery
       Outsmarts scientific dullness and pedantry:

2568.  The predacious water beetle, I rest my case,
       Ubiquitous family and assassin race,

2569.  Known as a strong diver with paddles on each shin,
       Battle-ready on steroids they come flapping in;

2570.  Crawling water beetles toddle on to the stage,
       Clumsy on land but here's one hungry omniphage;

2571.  The pill beetle, retractable leg mechanics,
       Resembles a pill and plays dead when she panics;

2572.  The large carrion beetle on parliament bench,
       Praise her that we do not succumb in rot and stench;

2573.  Now, the order of beetles conclude their travel,
       Counted and seated by the fall of the gavel;

2574.  Our agenda calls for a short intermission,
       Next up, the order of diptera in audition.

XIV. Intermission

2575.  Consider the myriads of all insect clades,
       Excellent beings alive in trophic cascades,

2576.  In which species seem a misrepresentation,
       Here we need a new kind of delineation,

2577.  Since what we want to emphasise is a kinship,
       Something akin to universal fellowship;

2578.  We seek the bonds and history of lineage,
       To rekindle greater empathy and knowledge;

2579.  No need to master any exacting science,
       But more an amazement, a sense of reverence,

2580.  A compulsion to know better, who might this be,
       To be near things, to discover by touch and see,

2581.  To try and mirror oneself in all these insects,
       Feel the presence, hello, of other intellects,

2582.  And to greet them all with an amicable kudos
       From the members of the mordant tribe of anthropos.

XV. Procession of Diptera

2583.  The two-winged order of top shelf multitudes
       Of prime evolutionary vicissitudes;

2584.  Their gas of energy maximalisation
       Bollocks parliamentary deliberation,

2585.  Get out your light microscopes, your stereo loupes,
       Here is the essence of insects in swarms and swoops;

2586.  Bristly beards and black spiky-haired pulchritude,
       Receive the order of flies and their teeming brood.

2587.  The diptera families are spectacular,
       But many are not part of the vernacular

2588.  And are referred to in taxonomic naming;
       Owing to a penchant for classical learning

2589.  The families of flies in much of common speak
       Are known by their names in Latin and ancient Greek;

2590.  Dryomyzid flies are a family in point,
       One species, in orange quality flesh and joints;

2591.  Fruit flies are green-eyed, coloured golden and yellow,
       Two blackspotted wings, what an übercool fellow,

2592.  The profusion of wing patterns introduces
       A fly of fleshy body- and colour juices;

2593.  Druid flies, one of tiny insect families,
       Perfect fly shape, dorsally, found in woods and trees,

2594.  Slender, with narrow wings and jagged antenna,
       Legs in maggot white, that near everyone kenna.

2595.  Dagger flies, best known for their courtship called lekking,
       In which females chose their mates for first class egging;

2596.  (Insect vocabulary is cultish and dense,
       But the word lek is play in Swedish, present tense).

2597.  Drone flies are able to breed where few others dare,
       Larvae snorkel through mud with their tails in the air;

2598.  They mimic the bumblebees and have furry hides,
       Hence their name, one of the abundant hoverflies;

2599.  Muscidae, the housefly, very easy to spot:
       Small, black, red-eyed and incessantly buzzing hot;

2600.  Frit flies of the glabrous, hairless varieties,
       Black, green, yellow, numerous in communities;

2601.  Dung flies, some with strong colour-signalling intent,
       Vivid curry hues on ruminant excrement;

2602.  Opomyzidae, the grass flies, small, quite dull,
       Leave their larvae to feed inside a plant stem hull;

2603.  March flies, or love bugs, fervent spring copulators,
       Sailmount has four kinds of these inseminators;

2604.  Woolly bee flies in early spring pollination,
       Black rigid trunks and magic wing oscillation;

2605.  Thickheaded flies, thin waists for a wasp look-alike,
       Strikingly similar, aggressive parasite,

2606.  She will intercept stinging insects in mid-flight,
       Gut the bee, stab her eggs, a grim and wondrous sight;

2607.  The march flies' larvae eat snails from the inside out,
       And gnaw themselves into the open like a sprout,

2608.  Then proceed to devour the gastropod carcass;
       Nature's beauty, or are you disgustedly eyecrossed?

XVI. Intermission

2609.  A short break and a welcome opportunity
       To satisfy the poet’s curiosity;

2610.  Let us open wide the doors of this assembly,
       And welcome in the land’s common majority;

2611.  Look, these concentric hemispheres up and around
       All that we find spectacular and earthly bound;

2612.  Lining the curvature from bottom to the top,
       Inwards to outwards and downwards all the way up;

2613.  As far as your eyes can see and your legs can keep,
       As wide as the light of day, as the night is deep:

2614.  Seats, lairs, ponds, bassins, pots, perches and balconies
       Nests, arcs, burrows, channels and conservatories;

2615.  Countless trillions of crossing paths of beast and bird,
       Voices assembled briefly, wanting to be heard;

2616.  Joined in evolutionary vitality
       Of organs, blood and muscular activity;

2617.  Behold the millions of seats outlined in the air,
       A mindmap suspended above the speaker's chair;

2618.  We have assembled in this forum at all times,
       We keep the records in the imprint of these lines;

2619.  Protocols of our collective experience,
       An alien, yet kindred sort of intelligence

2620.  Of the mind as biological energy,
       From bodies and their sentient identity,

2621.  Combining our common genetic sequences
       Of vast scale and unknowable consequences,

2622.  Merged by custodians in to phonetic coding,
       Decrypted, deciphered and reduced to writing:

2623.  Laws on interspecies justice and existence
       Enshrine the principle of common opulence,

2624.  Passed down from scores of congregated delegations
       For the benefit of our future venerations.

XVII. Procession of Diptera (cont.)

2625.  Horseflies, one third of species represented here,
       Living off blood from large animals like the deer,

2626.  Hoofed creatures like cattle and all the primates
       Darting in to take up their vampire mandates;

2627.  Shiny metallic eyes with stripes in red and blue,
       Robust, dusty coloured flies with piercing blades, too;

2628.  Flesh flies, grey and bald, frequenting carrion fests,
       Parasitic eggthieves and bloody nesting guests;

2629.  Species ID needs instrumentalia
       For light microscopy of genitalia;

2630.  Mostly of entomological relevance,
       As for us, only marginal significance,

2631.  But let’s celebrate it as boundless inquiry
       Why, what makes us humane is curiosity;

2632.  But back to the flydom community, let’s see
       What they are called, what they do, and who they might be;

2633.  The lauxanidae, two species represented,
       Ten thousand more are globally documented;

2634.  The louse fly, some are flightless and look like their name,
       Bloodsucker with a flattened lice-like body frame;

2635.  Leaf-miner flies lay eggs inside veggie hosts,
       Leaves blemished by larvae as by visiting ghosts;

2636.  The dung flies, aptly called shiteaters in Latin,
       Although keeping a varied menu for protein;

2637.  Signal flies ready for a fight and a tussle,
       Bizarre body outcrops and flexing their muscle;

2638.  On Sailmount Channel the population is scant,
       Pretty fly, though, that looks like a hybridised ant;

2639.  The snipe flies, intricate wing ornamentation,
       Yellow-black abdomen in wasp imitation;

2640.  Bush flies in bold body colours of iron-reds,
       Larvae feed on roots, in fields and in flower heads;

2641.  The robber fly, bristly and with a bushy beard,
       (Some females with ovipositors are much feared),

2642.  Injects it prey with a mix of neurotoxins,
       The better to slurp flesh broth with fly vitamins.

2643.  There's another dozen families of flies or so
       Waiting in the outdoors and getting ready to go.

XVIII. Jurisdiction

2644.  What might a poet and jurist in dialogue
       Glean from a review of their legal catalogue?

2645.  Starting with the Abolition of the Kingdom (2)
       As a concept and twist of popular wisdom,

2646.  In which we regret the use of categories,
       Namely, the abuse of the notion of species

2647.  As it relates to our life and agency,
       Since genuine equality inherently

2648.  Requires protection of legal personhood,
       Not just for humans, this should be well understood;

2649.  A basic law on genetic inheritance,
       The right of all life to flourish in abundance;

2650.  Law on Right protects physical diversity
       And joins body and justice in one entity;

2651.  The Assembly has drawn up bylaws to protect
       Self-determination for all the clades elect;

2652.  Furthermore has adopted the Law on Silence,
       And, yes, we made the Law on Common Opulence;

2653.  Law on Trails is the right of all beings to pass
       And to set their tracks in air, soil, water and grass;

2654.  The Ramblers Statute was passed with acclamation
       To bring back the land from the edge of extinction;

2655.  By law, the Assembly abolished the straight line
       As a principle and violence paradigm;

2656.  We have adopted the Paean to Multitudes (2)
       Celebrating ten thousand things in gratitude;

2657.  We will now resume the insect manifestation
       (To be continued by the plant confederation).

XIX. Procession of Diptera (contnd.)

2658.  The tachinid flies are ready, all parasites,
       The stricken hosts subject to larvae appetites;

2659.  Some of them assume an environmental role
       By egging and clegging in biopest control;

2660.  Small dung flies reproduce deep in the dirt and dung,
       Hence our knowledge of them is patchy, unsung;

2661.  The blowfly, a.k.a. the blue or green bottle,
       As carrion prospectors, they dab and gobble;

2662.  Crane flies of several related genera,
       Well known, a remarkable kind of diptera,

2663.  Large insects propped up on long-legged scaffolding,
       Spindly copulators in urgent balancing,

2664.  The adults will live a few hours or a day,
       Born complete with eggs, mate anyone, any way,

2665.  Related to other leggy flies, one expects,
       The stiletto fly, and other stilted insects;

2666.  The black scavenger flies, attracted to faeces,
       Look like tiny ants; yes, a pile of shit pleases;

2667.  Hover flies, everywhere, in ID confusion,
       Wary, busy buzzers in flying profusion,

2668.  A bee-like appearance and key pollinators,
       Capable garden- and nature cultivators;

2669.  The soldier flies, thoraxes with armour and spikes,
       Many of them are green and waspish look-alikes,

2670.  The name is from Greek etymologically,
       But why, is disputed philologically;

2671.  Flitting in is a species of the window fly,
       S. fenestralis, feeding off the human sty;

2672.  Present also a species of the window gnat,
       One more fenestralis, pinpoint head, body flat;

2673.  We are at the end of the order of the diptera,
       We continue presently with the most popular;

2674.  What about Darwin, from time to time the poet hears
       Ah yes, he's flying over there with hat and red ears.

XX. Procession of Butterflies

2675.  Daytime butterflies are endlessly endearing,
       Four families on Sailmount for your revering;

2676.  The whites are often hard to distinguish clearly,
       Both the common tribes and those seen rarely;

2677.  The nymphalidae, indented hind wing borders,
       Warm colours and most beloved of the orders;

2678.  The blues: the small copper & the gossamer wings
       Flutters in, icebluish and burnished orange things;

2679.  The skippers are amberfurred and fluttering fliers,
       Come closer, softly softly, all insect admirers.

XXI. Procession Grasshoppers and Dragonflies

2680.  The acrididae grasshoppers of locust fame,
       A big family with no common English name;

2681.  The tetricidae, the other large family,
       The short-horn grasshoppers, brownish, small and thorny;

2682.  Both are fiddlers of persistent cacophony,
       Huge hindlimbs of evacuator energy;

2683.  Bush crickets are also for the audiophile,
       Given to solo song in heat-crackling freestyle,

2684.  Superlative antennas on a highbrow face,
       Distinct insect harmony & bodily grace;

2685.  Eleven species live and breed here on Sailmount,
       Significantly, one third the national count;

2686.  Around the globe they number ten thousand legions,
       But barely a hundred in Nordic regions;

2687.  We pass straight to the next clade on the agenda:
       Here come the dragonflies in a whirl of splendour;

2688.  Three families have their places in parliament,
       Quadruple silver wings & gold integument;

2689.  The skimmers are able-bodied and glimmering,
       Black-patterned wings driven in dextrous shimmering;

2690.  Dragonflies, a fusion within our fantasy
       Of power, speed and elegant lethality;

2691.  Slender damsel flies, a sparkling phenomenon,
       A sign from primordial worlds, the noumenon,

2692.  They are an ancient order of archetype insect,
       A metaform of life and our ur-coded respect.

XXII. Procession Mayflies and Caddisflies

2693.  To conclude the parade of insect families,
       Flickering in from under rocks & stones & trees:

2694.  Mayflies among the oldest of the insect reign,
       Every springtime, symbol of life and joy and pain,

2695.  Angelwings for just one night before they are gone
       Until next summer when life resurrects again;

2696.  Lacewings, some very intelligent bugs around,
       Try to spot them disguised in perfect foliage brown;

2697.  The green lacewings, most delicate fabric beings,
       Their spring-green bodies enclosed in translucent wings;

2698.  Forest- and sand cockroaches come out for a spin,
       Intricate patterns incised on their desert skin;

2799.  The caddisflies can do something quite amazing,
       They keep each larva in elaborate casing,

2700.  Perfect camouflage for the next generation,
       Straw, gravel and plant fibres for decoration;

2701.  Silverfish, three forked tails, segmented hustlers;
       Springtails, ah, most wondrous of all micro-bustlers,

2702.  Minute rainbow animals with a huge spring attached;
       The gorgeous forms of life we never saw, never matched.

XXIII. Conclusion

2703.  So, to the smallest of animals the last verse,
       Justice for all species across the universe:

2704.  On Sailmount Channel with insects, plants, trees and birds,
       And in honour of whom you have read all these words,

2705.  Perpetual winds gust in the dunes and marram,
       While the planet rolls round in silent alarum;

2706.  Sailmount, now subject to registered encumbrance:
       No pesticide, no tilling, no land disturbance,

2707.  Let them all follow their paths and go about their toil,
       To live in peace on what is now our common soil.

(1) For reference, see Den holmske metode and appendices GØDEL KANAL KLADEFORSAMLING – artsfortegnelse, the latter being the full list of insect species documented from Sailmount. The name "Gødel" is a technical location name, which I use in the Danish versions. It does not transcribe well into English.
(2) For reference see: 🇬🇧 Law on Abolition of the Kingdom; 🇬🇧  Paean to multitudes. Other laws mentioned in the text exist in Danish only.

Last Updated on 2 måneder ago by Jacob Gammelgaard