The dodder

The toddler dodder,
sniffs out a sap saturated stem
and blisters around it with secretion embrace
to silence its alarm system
and that of all neighboring plants.
Using it as a base
it weaves a stringent tangled mat
to an adult tree linking adjoining trees,
turning the green carnivorous.
While apparently offering an umbrella
to buffer sun and storm,
rootless, leafless and foodless
it smothers the host tree
sucking its life juice
claiming the spreading canopied apex
as its premise.
The forest crawls with its expanding army
that drapes the whole landscape,
To halt its march and invasion,
as defense
some trees cut off the conduit
drying up its fuel supply
and others commit suicide
to shut up the sap tap.
Thirst throttled, its rule shrinks and shrivels
as all power based empire never hold fast.



Poetry by yoonoos peerbocus The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 33 times
Written on 2026-07-13 at 01:02

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Clara Mae Gregory The PoetBay support member heart!
It's an old war strategy:
"Cut off the conduit"
I like that analogy-- I just wish "men" would also not be ruled by their greed as they "supply" others with the money-making weapons of the "industries" in which to kill each other with.
Too bad it is unrealistic to want that in a world filled with so much evil.
2026-07-13


jim The PoetBay support member heart!
It seems dodder's success is its downfall, as are so many other forms of life which consider themselves imperious and eternal.

Thank you for this strong poem of nature, and by analogy, mankind.
2026-07-13