March 2026 "Delectable Discourse 6: Stroking Worms and Other Varmint" by Emily Rawlings

As Springtime arrives, the ground grows weak and can no longer hold back the creatures that flail their many arms or gyrate their limbless bodies to break through the surface to greet the Worm Moon. Consequently, in this sixth issue of Delectable Discourse, where I ask college students a scrumptious new question each month, I asked the following question: In light of the upcoming Worm Moon, which is the full moon in March, when was the last time you picked up a worm or other strange creature, and can you tell me about it?

“Literally yesterday. Yes, last night, I was walking to use the bathroom, and there was a frog outside, and it peed on me, and it was lowkey so thug, and I put it down. I love frogs!” -Wyatt

“Um, I feel like whenever I see a strange creature, I start hobbling around it and poking it with a stick. I saw a larva, but that was a long time ago. Oh, there are these random little bugs, and they look like really tiny rolly pollies, and they are on my curtain, and I just pick them up and put them outside. Ever since the First Aid training, I have been afraid of those large spiders from Texas that jump really high, and they are smaller than a quarter, and I guess their bite is really poisonous. Brown recluse! And it eats your flesh alive. Yeah, it destroys skin tissue.” -Maritza

“I think the last thing I picked up was a snail. I like picking them up by their shells. I remember I would get mad (you know when snails come out), and my dad would step on them on purpose. It was so messed up.” -AnaPaula

“Oh my gosh, I haven’t been out in nature for so long. No, I am really trying to think. Honestly, this was like a year or two ago, I found rolly pollies in the dirt, and it reminded me of when I was little with my sister, and we terrorized rolly pollies and made rolly polly armies.” -Zyann

“Sure, it was a way long time ago. I think I was still a child, around 8 or 9, and it was the type of worm that, if you touch them, they burn your skin (they were in Mexico). They were really thick and black, and my friends and I used to collect them to have them fight against each other.” -Adan

“Um, yeah, I was running in the rain, and a lot of worms were out, and I was running around them on the track, but then I built up the courage to actually go up and touch one, and I went in to touch it, and it was super gross and slimy!” -Bryce

“Does it have to be alive? I was walking el perro, and I was looking at the ground, and I was like, ‘Mmmm, ground.’ Ahem, and then all of a sudden, in a twinkle of an eye, it was staring back at me, a singular scapula of origin unknown… I need to buy bread… ummm...I took my little fingers and protruded them outwards to caress it and then pick it up. For how long it had been there, I do not know. For it twas bleached, no flesh was upon it, and it was whiter than my sister’s shin. It was whiter than your grandma’s ashes. I asked the student what happened next Love! Then, el perro, which I had to pick up, wanted it for my own. Around and around, and up and down it went about me. But did I keep it? Nayyyy! But what if it was a horse? Do you understand? Do you get the joke? But nay!” -Ruth

“It was, um, actually, mine is kind of religious to be honest. So it was like two weeks ago: I was planting my acorns, and I was praying over each one, saying ‘Please, God, let these grow!’ and then on the third one, uh, there was a worm, and I picked it up, and I thought, ‘This is a blessing. This is blessed.’ Yeah, an actual worm! And I buried it, and I might have buried it a little too deep… Are insects also a part of this question? I pinched wings off the front bumper of my car, wondering if it was a bee or a wasp, and then I turned it around to look at its face, and it was way too ugly to be a bee.” -Anonymous

“Um, the last time I picked up a strange creature was about a year ago, and I picked up a rolly polly to remind myself of my childhood. I let them crawl all over my hands when I was a child.” -Alexandra