With Ants - edit

[dukealien]

With Ants


With ants I reach for poison
not because it reaches them
where they hide   
nor because to crush ants
isn’t challenging
(though it’s true
to swat a fly affirms both skill
and my hegemony);
there’s little danger
(as when spraying wasps)
for ants are individually
harmless in my house—
no, like some Middle East
dictator dropping barrel bombs
I spray ants who want to live
in my domain
for they’re many
won’t be bidden
and I can.

With ants I reach for poison
not because it reaches them
in places where they hide   
nor because to crush them
isn’t challenging
(although it’s true
to swat a fly successfully
affirms both skill
and my hegemony);
there’s little danger
as when spraying wasps
for ants are individually
harmless in my sight—
no, like some Middle East
dictator dropping barrel bombs
I spray ants who want to live
in my house
because they’re many
won’t be bidden
and I can.

[Knot]

Enjoyable piece duke,
with a unexpectedly powerful finish.

- The rhyme of 'them' with 'them' is a bit disappointing,

- (Bit old fashioned perhaps, but:
affirms both [my] skill
and [Man's] hegemony ?)

- Should there be a 'but' before 'there's little danger' ?

- I don't think the 'Middle East dictator' adds anything
(rather the opposite, in fact). Maybe cut as:
harmless in my sight—
no, I spray ants who want to live
in my house
[for they are] many
won’t be bidden
and [because] I can. ?


Best, Knot.

[dukealien]

edit;

With Ants


With ants I reach for poison
not because it reaches them
where they hide   
nor because to crush ants
isn’t challenging
(though it’s true
to swat a fly affirms both skill
and my hegemony);
there’s little danger
(as when spraying wasps)
for ants are individually
harmless in my house—
no, like some Middle East
dictator dropping barrel bombs
I spray ants who want to live
in my domain
for they’re many
won’t be bidden
and I can.

---

A tardy edit, with thanks to @Knot.  I *think* this is an improvement, though it goes directly counter to your suggestion of cutting the dictator.  Which, as a concept, certainly has merit.