Jugular

Ants keep together in disorderly
double and triple file
as the jugular of their procession
creeps through the undergrowth,

their skeletal bodies
rapidly glint from the light
that finds its flickering way
through the forest canopy,

every antennae and leg in motion
waving placards, a savage haul
floating on a living ocean...

razors and bottle caps,
beetle pincers and thighs,
the arm off a pair of eye specs,
and shoelace tips on the side

to share with moldy leaves
found with rotted gizzard of
striped, spotted poisonous lizard
that had dined on them yesterday-

all parading past tomorrow's
repast if any should fall today
from their roost or a perch,
to squirm and slowly die away

for the determined horde
to gather all they have room
and hoist what they can afford,
returning to the community womb.