"Silent Crickets" and "Break-Up" by Derek Eugene Daniels
Silent Crickets
They have learned
to stop chirping –
fear the parasite
that preys on courtship songs,
& burrows
into its amorous host.
What loss is this
that song must evolve
into silence?
The survivors understand
the romance of quiet.
Break-Up
No shelter, empty
benches
as thunder
bruises
the brittle air.
No one saw this coming
this torrent that left
the ground choked in debris
the bees the flowers lost.
Derek Eugene Daniels is a Black, male, speech-language pathologist and associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Derek is a member of the Springfed Arts creative writing organization and regularly participates in local and online creative writing workshops.