Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Heard and Seen

I remember a few years back in Chicago the cicada emergence. I remember driving through the forest preserves with the windows closed and still being able to hear them. Though I didn't really see them often until they started dropping out of the trees after mating.

This cycle is different in middle Tennessee. Here I see them during the day, a few newly emerging, transformed from their nymph state, others dark and red-eyed with fully inflated wings. I see them on parking lots, in the grass. I also see many more of the husks left behind after their transformation. These are a visible presence.

Yet some things still remain the same from one brood on a 17 year cycle to another brood on a 13 year cycle. Right now, 4:51 PM, I sit typing at my computer. It's warm outside, so the windows are closed and the central air is running, and even now in this place, I can hear the sounds of the cicadas outside in the trees.

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