The many modes of devouring

In farmers’ markets the strawberries are plump and bursting with flavor; the tomatoes swell on the vine; eggs when cracked spill yolks gold as suns. It is the season of lusciousness and gluttony.

We are only one of many species stuffing our faces with the summer’s bounty. Caterpillars are chomping holes through the succulent flesh of new leaves until the rose bush is airy as lace; robins grip slick, wriggling worms in their beaks and glare at me suspiciously; ladybugs crush the fat green bodies of aphids between their mandibles with an almost palpable glee.

There should be something disturbing about this orgy of gorging, and yet I can’t find it in me to be unsettled.

Instead, I’m impressed by the sheer diversity of creatures eating and the various kinds of eating they engage in. It serves as a much-needed reminder that the world is vast, and mysterious, and full of mouths.

{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}