Doodlebugs

Jacob Friesenhahn

September 7, 2025

We played barefoot in the black dirt,

soft as sifted ash, just outside

Oma’s chicken coop,

where doodlebugs made craters,

small perfect sinkholes,

each its own world.

We fed them ants,

dropped one in and watched

the frantic tumble,

the sudden sand-flick

of a hidden neck.

Sometimes we teased the pit

with a twig, drawing lazy circles

until one twitched to the surface,

a miniature monster

revealed for a moment.

In that same powdery dirt,

still pockmarked, at the entrance

of an empty coop,

I kneel at the rim

of a trap

and drop myself in

without much struggle.

The dirt closes warm

around my waist—

I wait to be taken

by jaws ancient

and patient, feeding

on whatever falls,

willing or not.

Jacob Friesenhahn is the author of The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025). He teaches religious studies and philosophy at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.