NaPoWriMo day 10

NaPoWriMo day 10; a poem not of love, nor of hate, but of ‘un-love’(here's another from a fellow NaPoWriMo addict)

Caring for the Unloved

Pick the woodlice from our firewood stack,
Before it’s set to burn,
And with a puff of loving breath,
Send tiny barklice floating,
Safely up and far from flames,
Alighting where they will,
Give house-spiders time to flee,
When hoovering away
The dust-hung dereliction of their disused webs,
After all they ate the mozzies while we slept,
But now those tiny carcasses must be swept,
Despite foot-waving eight-legg’d ire,
Fix me if you must with your many eyes,
You’ll not be squashed or flushed,
Nor go into the fire,
Nudge flies unharmed towards the open air,
(They are so helpful with decay,
But seem content to butt the glass all day),
Wasps as well, though with more care,
At arm’s-length with The Guardian,
Or from a postcard-cappèd glass,
And when outdoors at night please mindful be,
Of snails who might crunch underfoot,
Escargots now escar-gone,
Smeared on heels or ‘tween the toes,
Are ‘yuk’ to feel and sad to see,
While garden larvae, pupae too, stay free,
However pale and maggoty,
Who knows what they’ll grow up to be?
In this ahimsa-tinted urban patch,
Grateful for the good bugs do,
And not just the pretty-wingèd ones,
Or bright-striped fuzzy pollinators,
It matters less than just one jot,
Whether they are easy on the eye,
Move along - no lookists here,
Though slugs that come indoors must die!