Volanding on an Updraft<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said you are a lovely lady.
\nShe thought that he was joking.
\nShe said she saw a butterfly
\nred ziggy zaggy
\nwith half a hind wing ripped off
\nvolanding on an updraft
\na little lopsided what with half a half a wing gone
\nbut moving still
\nfrom a near place to a far.<\/p>\n
Painted ladies fly across the Alps she said–
\ndon’t you want to do that?
\nOf course we’d have to eclose first–
\ndon’t you want to eclose?
\nIt would be sweet to spend five instars–
\ndon’t you want to be instar?
\nmotionless in a pupa
\nbecome liquid
\nhave all your cells rearrange while you hang.
\nI want to be mother-of-pearl morpho iridescence.<\/p>\n
You are lovely as mother of pearl he said,
\nslipping it into the conversation when she wasn’t looking.
\nI will follow painted ladies across the Alps with you,
\nchase morphos into the heart of Brazil,
\ngo to Papua New Guinea in search of the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing,
\ngo anywhere everywhere whicheverwhere,
\nif there you will know that you are loved
\nand let me touch you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Volanding on an Updraft” is reprinted from Windfall<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Martha Vallely lives in Seattle where she has worked as a legal editor for 36 years.\u00a0 Her poetry has appeared in The Smoking Poet<\/em>,<\/a> Menacing Hedge<\/em>,<\/a> Windfall<\/em>, Motel 58<\/em>, and the anthology 31<\/em> (Crane\u2019s Bill books).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Volanding on an Updraft He said you are a lovely lady. She thought that he was joking. She said she saw a butterfly red ziggy zaggy with half a hind wing ripped off volanding on an updraft a little … Continue reading