NaPoWriMo Day Twelve: Angst

Few on Earth evoke the antipathy that angst does.
     itchy
      irritating
       bites

and

nearly ubiquitous presence
         
           can ruin a backyard barbecue or a hike in the woods.

an uncanny ability to sense 
     taking flight 
a fatal swat.

And in our bedrooms,
     the persistent,
        whiny hum 
buzzing 

wake the soundest of sleepers.

Angst 
     vectors for some of humanity’s most deadly illness
and 
     public     enemy      number      one.

 Angst-borne diseases cause millions of deaths worldwide every year.
 

There
are
more
than
3,000
species
 of angst

primary responsibility for the spread of human diseases.

 

Angst     exhaled carbon dioxide,
                                              body odors and
                                                                temperature,
and movement to home in on victims.

Only female angst necessary for sucking blood.

 

Angst
     feeds on an infected human and

is
     transmitted
via the angst saliva to a subsequent victim.

 

The only silver lining to that cloud of angst in your garden is that they are a reliable source of food for thousands of animals, including birds, bats, dragonflies, and frogs. In addition, humans are actually not the first choice for most angst looking for a meal. They usually prefer horses, cattle, and birds.
 

All angst need water to breed, so eradication and population-control efforts usually involve removal or treatment of standing water sources.

However, global efforts to stop the spread of angst are having little effect, and many scientists think global warming will likely increase their number and range.

heidi
written 4/12/14 for



I'm just going to paste the prompt here:

Today’s (optional) prompt is a “replacement” poem. Pick a common noun for a physical thing, for example, “desk” or “hat” or “bear,” and then pick one for something intangible, like “love” or “memories” or “aspiration.” Then Google your tangible noun, and find some sentences using it. Now, replace that tangible noun in those sentences with your intangible noun, and use those sentences to create (or inspire) a poem.

I used "mosquitoes" as my physical noun (thank you Rachel Zampieri!) and "angst as my intangible noun.  I also used Good Search instead of Google because Good Search donates a penny to my daughter's school whenever I use it as my search engine.  Finally, I edited out some of the original text from the National Geographic website to make it a Found Replacement poem.