No one knows the name of these men,
but they lie sleeping in the water.
These swimmers are often seen
lying in the mud looking for fringed hind legs
or casting their electric eggs
on the surface of great shadows in the air.
They stride about the surface of their lives
or swim through at the bottom to avoid
its most painful, familiar stings.
Many of them eat algae and scum
to spend the time.
These water boatmen, back swimmers
have a mate to plant their oars within
which can cause them to serve eggs
for short periods.
Then the wise bugs move through their home s
and fly to a new pool in which to live
because of their peculiar habit of leaving
their complete, spiderlike life histories on film.