Özge Lena
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Aggressive Mimicry
In the middle of a winter war,
trapped in the endless time
of the library, children are surprised
to read that the orchid mantis
imitates the flower to allure its prey,
to grab pollen-feeding insects
with blinding speed, which is known
as aggressive mimicry. Milk pink legs
and the puffy body act like innocent
petals, so real that it attracts more
pollinators than the real flower,
and that lights a bright wave of excitement
among children—who understand now
how disguise is the mother tongue
of war, how it becomes a sweet snare
lurking at the edge of lure and violence—
as they plan to charm the soldiers
with dummies stolen from the kids store,
by placing them amid the city square
for their prey to be embraced by cocktails
of molotov, bursting blindingly.
Özge Lena is a worldwide published poet who appears in The London Magazine, Modron Magazine, The International Times, and numerous magazines across continents. Her ecological themed poetry earned Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations and was shortlisted for Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, The Plough Poetry Prize, and Black Cat Poetry Press Nature Prize. Özge’s poetry appears in many international anthologies and was showcased at Barnes & Noble for Poetry Month.