Anything Gushing Out

Time for some cecidology.
Plant tissues have defensive tricks
Gall wasps have evolved to exploit,

Digging in and triggering galls
That then serve them as nurseries,
Food and shelter for their larvae.

Eupelmus messene wasps dig in,
Ovipositors capable
Of drilling through plastic, drilling

Right through those tough, protective galls
To eat the larvae of gall wasps,
Parasites eating parasites.

Humans will use those galls as well
To manufacture astringents,
Tan leather, and make permanent

Iron gall inks, as was noted
In the inked words of the Talmud.
The plants’ defense became the wasps’

Nursery and pantry, became
The wasp-eating wasps’ nursery
And pantry, became the gall ink

Of religious commentary
Defending a community
Vulnerable to poetry.