The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Amelia Gorman

This selection, chosen by Guest Curator H.V. Cramond, is from Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Interstellar Flight Press in 2021.

Spiny Waterflea

Act I.

The spiny water fleas enjoy a game of water polo. See their good sportsmanship as they flit about to congratulate the winners and assure the losers of their good play.

Watch as they put away their things after the game, model citizens and good Christians.

Act II.

The waterfleas are miners, they take rare elements out of the earth and sell them to the highest bidder. Look at their tiny picks and hats. Safety is important, even for a flea.

Act III.

These fleas are reenacting a great Roman circus. Behold, they race around the Circus Maximus in miniature. The winner will get a crown of the smallest stonewort flowers.

Amelia Gorman is a recent transplant to Eureka, California where she enjoys exploring the redwoods and coasts with her dogs and foster dogs. Some of her recent poetry has appeared in Penumbric, Vastarien, and The Deadlands and her first chapbook, Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota, is available from Interstellar Flight Press. Her weird fiction appears in the Nightscript series, Nox Pareidolia from Nightscape Press, and She Walks in Shadows from Innsmouth Free Press. Find her online at www.ameliagorman.com or on twitter at @gorman_ghast.

H.V. Cramond holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was the founding Poetry Editor of Requited Journal for 10 years. In 2018, she helped pass the Survivor’s Bill of Rights as the Illinois organizer for Rise. Recent work can be found in Soundless Poetry, Ignavia, death hums, Crack the Spine, BlazeVOX, Menacing Hedge, Adanna, So to Speak, Thank You for Swallowing, Dusie, Masque & Spectacle, Matter, and at https://hvcramond.com