silverfish ovenbird My home is inhabited by silverfish. They are bizarre, primitive, nocturnal creatures that swim across the floor like tadpoles, lightning fast and alien. They look like something that could burrow into your brain and eat your memories: segmented bodies, probing antennae, scuttling legs. For the most part we just coexist with them now. Pest control has been useless so we just cull as many as we can each day to keep the population in check. When you crush a silverfish they turn to dust. It's as if their body simply vanishes and all that’s left is the fine powder of the books they’ve been eating. It makes me feel like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Some days I dust dozens of those suckers. When my son was small he mixed up the words “silverfish” and “goldfish.” So he went to preschool one day and told his teacher that his mother kills goldfish every day. I’m not sure why this feels more monstrous. Is a silverfish life worth less than a goldfish life? Is the metallic carapace of a silverfish less beautiful than the flashing scales of a goldfish? The silverfish are truly a marvel. They have been around for 400 million years, leaving their tiny footprints on the fossil record, and I’m busy crushing their ancient shells to powder daily. I guess it comes down to this: the silverfish keep trying to devour my library and I’ve never had a goldfish do the same. 250412 what's it to you? who go blather from