The last cicada is sputtering out.
Probably a male calling for a mate
as autumn moves in. The buzz starts and stops
and pushes forward like an old crank car.
This year, no tidal wave of cicada song
as in the summers of my childhood.
This year, no water and only suburb grass.
The dragonflies have died and the mosquitoes with them.
Then a second cicada answers, tuning its violin
toward the first without breaking a single note.

Featured in “Skipjack Review #2 – Bugs Issue”

Paulette Guerin lives in Arkansas and teaches writing, literature, and film. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Best New Poets, epiphany, Contemporary Verse 2, and Carve Magazine. A suite of 25 poems appears in the anthology Wild Muse: Ozarks Nature Poetry. She is the author of Wading Through Lethe and the chapbook Polishing Silver.  Her screenplay, Irish Rose, was recently optioned by Cinterra Entertainment. Her website is pauletteguerin.com.