Illustration by Arty Guava
Sugar ants from sunset bring bad luck reflected in aged mirrors; troubles echoed in hoarse bells
inside whitewashed temple domes; debts that inhabit the marrow of history; hunger that live inside
guts like feral dogs howling forever.
Sugar ants from sunup bode better: for repayment of debts; from down south they bring gold,
silver; from up north they bring winds that drive the river down to the milk of estuaries. That’s
what they say. What do I know? I was taken by the winds and trapped in ant colonies since 1763.
Some sugar ants stay still, some are peripatetic, moving forever in the direction of the wind. Some
carry eggs in their crocks, some quietly quit the galley, when they see a lip in the ship kissing a
turgid moon. Some have noses like lighthouses; some know tides; music of waves; some know
when its time to adjust the clock, anchor, compass; what the seashells say to the clam, what the
owl says to the woodchuck, things of that kind.
Some have learned to levitate for hours, spanning epochs and continents; some are fake prophets
with tinny voices hovering rivers decorated with chalk flowers of the dead. Some lay out lily-
livered lyrics; some are like the loveless toads that the moon opened up. Some never tire of doing
nothing, some are like the chak chak of the tin boat searching roots of lotus. That’s what I know.
And I know, all ants crave sugar. All of them sugar.
Sabyasachi Nag is the author of a story collection and three poetry collections. His work has appeared in several print and online journals worldwide. He is an alumnus of the Iowa Writers Workshop and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He works as a technical writer when he’s not teaching. He lives in the Treaty lands of Mississauga, Ontario. His most recent poetry collection, The Alphabet of Aliens, under advance contract with Mawenzi House, Toronto, is due in the fall of 2025. To learn more about him, visit www.sachiwrites.com
Lay Hoon, aka Arty Guava, is an Illustrator and Graphic Designer based in Vancouver. She grew up in Malaysia and spent most of her adult life in Singapore before moving to Canada. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Bioengineering but chose to make a career switch after about 1 year of working there. Art and Design have always been her calling. She is passionate about culture, people and nature and how these themes interact. Her work is available at artyguava.com/illustration