Day 94 (CS Day 17) - Insect Tanka

"It's National Poetry Month! Write a poem or make something inspired by a poem you like"

I decided to create tanka, a classical Japanese poetry style similar to haiku in that you have a set number of syllables per line. Tanka are 5-7-5-7-7 and often depend on puns and double entendres for meaning (I have no such skill). They were frequently introduced with a bit of prose describing the feeling, thoughts, mood, scenery, or any other bit of information about why or when it was composed, that gave further depth and context to the short poems.

When a friend asked me to name a favorite insect I replied:

The tiger beetle

Mantispids are another

Mantids, can't deny

My favorite's hard to pin

Can't even choose an Order!

On discovering my beloved mantids belonged with vile roaches on the cladogram:

Preying mantids may

evolutionarily

be predatory

elongated cockroaches,

I pray not show revulsion

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