A poem of calculus (of ants on a worm)

Philip Wexler plays with the terminology of calculus in this poem:

     The Calculus of Ants on a Worm

     Swarming tiny
     bodies nibble
     away, no limits,

     at the squirming
     tube, divide,
     reduce

     by degrees,
     make of it
     null

     nothing orignal
     this derivative
     devouring,

     flitter around
     the tail end
     of the curve,

     march off,
     a tight triangle,
     bellies full,

     infinite,
     temporary
     satisfaction,

     leave behind
     the stain
     of an integral sign.

I found Wexler's poem in the anthology Cabin Fever:  Poets at Joaquin Miller's Cabin, 1984-2001 (WordWorks, 2003).  A brief mention of calculus also is found in a lovely poem by Carl Phillips entitled "A Mathematics of Breathing."