Member-only story
The Cicadas are Coming
Haiku
They climb trees every
seventeen years, screech, screech, lay
eggs — Silence again.
In 2004, while living in Maryland, there was a news story about the cicadas emerging after being underground for seventeen years. “A what?” was my first response because I had never heard of a cicada. And when I realized what I was in for, I went into complete distress. I found out that the cicadas were harmless, but they gave me nightmares anyway. Going to work each morning became an entire process because the swarms of cicadas flew right into me. It was frightening watching them through my glass door knowing I had to go to work. Between the loud screeching noises and the swarming of these critters, my anxiety went into overdrive. And there was no work from home back then, so every day I had to relive the previous one. I am grateful that I no longer live in Maryland and I don’t think they swarm in Florida.
