My poem, “To Spot a Lanternfly,” has been published in the Hemlock Journal Anthology Volume 2.
The spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect species in Pennsylvania. We’re instructed by the local government to kill every single one we encounter. While they’re just bugs (and quite annoying ones at that), I can’t help but feel bad about killing them. I mean, they didn’t choose to be here. They’re only trying to survive like everything else. I’m sure you already know where I’m going with this.
I’m not going to talk about immigration politics or anything, but imagine being hated simply for existing. Or being hated because you’re in a place people say you don’t belong in, even if you were born and raised there. All because you’re viewed as “foreign” by people who most likely didn’t choose where they were born and raised either. It seems to me empathy is quickly fading from society.
When you believe something doesn’t deserve to exist, you’re giving others the same power to believe YOU don’t deserve to exist.
Caleb James K. 