(no subject)
The Five Stages of a Butterfly
1
In a Mimesis of moths, these swallow-
tails flies lambent over water all wings
and body. Thorax contraction, then sudden
wing-fluttering. There are two whose wings
are dim and frail with age. Tongues coil
and uncoil licking the rests of a halcyon nest.
2
Green mimicry of a cocoon, the pupa
hangs like pears; bends its branch.
3
The innocence of putti, a crawler
whose trail behind is only slime and blank.
Hidden in leaves, a larva eats its own egg-
shell with its mandibles. Alcyone swaths
them both.
4
Less cream and milky-colour when it now
crack open. In days, the larva will eat its coop.
Moth-Flocked
Flocked by moths, I row out in a canoe;
drag a part of the lake with my paddle.
God coats ten bees in broad daylight.
Their bodies are ten pearls, wings a hymn
draped around them like seaweed.
Beaver tails slap water. Water rises
and sticks to fur. I would stare through
wood if wood was air and penetrable.
1
In a Mimesis of moths, these swallow-
tails flies lambent over water all wings
and body. Thorax contraction, then sudden
wing-fluttering. There are two whose wings
are dim and frail with age. Tongues coil
and uncoil licking the rests of a halcyon nest.
2
Green mimicry of a cocoon, the pupa
hangs like pears; bends its branch.
3
The innocence of putti, a crawler
whose trail behind is only slime and blank.
Hidden in leaves, a larva eats its own egg-
shell with its mandibles. Alcyone swaths
them both.
4
Less cream and milky-colour when it now
crack open. In days, the larva will eat its coop.
Moth-Flocked
Flocked by moths, I row out in a canoe;
drag a part of the lake with my paddle.
God coats ten bees in broad daylight.
Their bodies are ten pearls, wings a hymn
draped around them like seaweed.
Beaver tails slap water. Water rises
and sticks to fur. I would stare through
wood if wood was air and penetrable.