The Wasp and the Orchid

The Wasp and the Orchid

The Wasp and the Orchid

Hiding its one
terrible testicle
underground it rises
Venus-like, immodest
bloom, complete with eyes,
antennae and wings,
its prominent labellum
(“covered in long dense,
lustrous reddish hairs”)
“similar in colour and structure
to the female wasp’s
abdomen.” It even
smells the same: “a floral
scent that imitates
the sex pheromone.”

Suckered by this
counterfeit come-on, it
attempts copulation
(properly ‘pseudo-
copulation’) – mounting
the labellum “with
vigorous waving of
wings and abdominal
probing”, “the genital
claspers at the tip of
the abdomen partially
open.” The wasp is
a part of the orchid’s
reproductive apparatus.
The wasp is an orchid.
The orchid is a wasp.

.  .  .

Having plucked
its rose it rests, horns of pollinia
on its head, before flying
on to the next false female.