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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—

Beetle MetonymySamantha Sharp
00:00 / 01:14

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.

© Bicoastal Review 2025. All rights reserved.

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