Brood X : 2021
Emerging
After having been underground for up to 17 years, Magicicada juvenilles dig themselves out and climb up onto a neaby tree or similar protrusion to begin molting thier shell. This teneral juvenille is currently undergoing ecdysis, the molting process, and must let it's wings dry and skin harden before continuing on it's journey.
Circle of Life
A lonely shell
clings to the circle of life,
Watching its past climb
far into the distance,
As the music begins
to fade...
Circle of Life
Some are chasing the summer heat up
Out of the ground
Reborn after 17 years
Of darkness
Others fall from the sky
A final flight after planting their genes
in the very trees
from which they came
But this one takes a moment to enjoy
her short life on this Earth
To feel each string
On a blade of grass
To swing off the heat
In the breeze of a summer's day
And listen to her suitor's serenades
Sung all across the field
Taking a break from the short cycle
Of survival
She will climb again tomorrow...
Left: Cicadas eyes are infamously beady and bright red. Or are they?
These cicadas also have three Ocelli, or smaller eyes, in between the two large eyes. They blend in and are hard to notice, but become immensely useful to cicadas in low light.
Right: An adult male magicicada in the middle of a peaceful meditation. Cicadas can be sexed based on the shape of thier abdomen as well as by thier call.
Left: An adult male waves to the camera
Middle: This cicada climbs higher in the tree, seeking a mate
Bottom: Cicada high up in a Pine
Video Link:
Grain of Sand
A grain of sand,
Sans lonliness,
Part of an invasion
Extending far beyond its frame,
Once in 17,
One in a million...
The Duplication (of Mating)
The duty to transcribe
oneself in verbatim,
What only can trump
the pursuit of happiness,
The priorities that lie
between your world and mine...
Larvae
These rice-like orbs
mark the final stage
in a brief cycle.
They'll be back
in seventeen.