[Lang Elliott]

The last verse of Mayflies pretty much sums up my reason to be ... at least with regard to my celebration of nature through poems.

Has anyone here (on this forum) ever experienced the dance he is describing? Those were not "mayflies" in a technical sense. They were "midges" and the "dance" was a mating ceremony wherein a lot of action takes place. The movement he describes takes careful observation to discern. Individual midges rise (fly) quickly up the center of the spherical group and then fan out to the side before dropping/floating gradually down to the bottom, where the individual repeats the pattern, shooting up the center once again.

This is really an extraordinary insect mating dance, one of my favorites. And it is most easily seen near dusk, when the sun is low, and when the midges are backlit. This makes them literally shine in the air, especially if one is positioned so that the background is dark. In such circumstances, the midge gathering looks like a gathering of stardust particles, all partaking in a celestial dance.

From my perspective, “fiat” is perhaps not the right word to use in that last line, at least if the intent is to communicate experience to the world at large (as opposed to the world of practiced poets who may cheer the use of unconventional words). The common person, including the “average naturalist” to whom the poem will be incredibly meaningful (because of intimate familiarity with the phenomenon being described), will be thrown by that word. I was thrown and had to look it up, the only fiat in my vocabulary being an automobile. Yes, I stumbled on that last line and this seems out of synch with the rest of the poem, which flowed like silk. I have shared this poem numerous times with fellow naturalists, but I always feel compelled to explain that last line, knowing that others will stumble over the automobile just as I did.