The Bug Project 
By Juliana Scheding

Hymenoptera, 
Coleoptera,
Ephemeroptera,
Lepidoptera,
Odonata.

These orders I remember classifying and catching. 

Hymenoptera, my first catch,
Coleoptera, the hesitant approach,
Ephemeroptera, too fleeting to find,
Lepidoptera, requiring the most delicate
perservervation, Odonata, the slow kill.

Hymenoptera: 
Hiking with my mother I was terrified
to find that the first swipe
of my net now harbored
an angry buzzing,
a wasp’s sting.

I was a coward. 
I let my mother reach her hand
-armed only with plaster of paris
and rubbing alcohol in a jar
inside the net.
Gently she coaxed the creature
into the jar, and deftly
she closed the lid.
I aspired to her ruthlessness.

Coleoptera: 
Between the verdant drapes
and tangles of grass
I crouched
on the abandoned train tracks
that led to Draper Park.
I stalked a stink beetle.
From behind its matte
black armor, the little warrior
brandished its behind.
This gave me pause,
but I was now determined.
The hunt was mine.

Ephemeroptera: 
Though it was Spring
the Mayfly eluded me
until I saw my jealousy
reflected in it’s fine,
needle-pierced wings
as Ford Christensen
brought a perfect
It had spacing that calmed
the most agitated mind, and
species I had sought fruitlessly.

Mr. Bromely’s honeyed praise 
of Ford’s success
bitters my tongue to speak of
to this day.

Lepidoptera: 
I remember the cocoa powder
of the moth’s wing
rubbed between my thumb and
forefinger. I remember the regret for
ruining the palette
of my collage,
but not the mourning.

Odonata: 
Oh, the chill that went through
me when I saw the dragonfly’s
head move.
I must not have left her
to suffocate humanely
in the jar for long enough.
I yelped, Frankenstein
suddenly aware of what she
had done.

The dragonfly’s eyes 
swallowed her head in
proportion, all the better
to see me with.
But all I could see was
the needle securing her in place,
speared directly through her
thorax.

Hymenoptera, 
Coleoptera,
Ephemeroptera,
Lepidoptera,
Odonata.

To understand the world 
I had to make it mine.
I etherized it,
impaled it,
and admired my work.