Samantha Sharp
Beetle Metonymy
in mycangium, fungus knows the beetle
fungus
to mycangium
to beetle
in phloem, the beetle knows the pine
beetle
to phloem
to pine
in loam, pine trees taste the ash
and in sugar, the sky—
in beetle, ash tree knows the freighter
freighter
to beetle
to ash
in hands, freighters know the port
port
to freighter
to hand
in flood, the port reflects the ocean
and in sulfur, refinery—
in the beak, the beetle knows
the woodpecker
in bark, woodpecker knows
the trees
in the wound, the trees bleed out
in springtime
and in labyrinths, the beetle carves its name:
in oleoresin,
in floods,
in machinery—
Samantha R. Sharp is a neurodivergent writer and PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at SUNY Binghamton, where she studies ecopoetics and political ecology. She serves as Poetry Editor for Midway Journal, and has been published or is forthcoming in Cleaver Magazine, Wild Roof Journal, Dipity Lit Mag, and Up the Staircase Quarterly. A native Floridian, she currently resides in upstate New York with her animals.