Cicada on my shoulder
Like some weird parrot, you ride
along for my morning walk,
golden legs akimbo
as you get your bearings.
You peer both up at me and ahead,
large, red, compound eyes
protruding like the ping-pong
eyeballs of a Muppet. This close,
you seem a bit cross-eyed,
pseudopupils appearing
near the ocelli at the center
of your lacquer-black head.
The sun is warm, and halfway
around the block you chirp
thanks and farewell then clatter
off to a neighbor’s crabapple.
5 thoughts on "Cicada on my shoulder"
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I feel like you captured the lazy and friendly yet otherworldly energy of cicadas so well here.
Nice!!
I like everthing about
“ping pong/eyeballs”
For some odd reason, I can hear John Denver singing “Cicada on my shoulder makes me happy.” Enjoyed reading a kinder, gentler cicada poem!
Lol! I may have to work out a Weird Al version of that song. Thanks for putting the idea in my head! 🙂
I was mesmerized from the title to the “clatter off” — beautiful.