qarrtsiluni

Northwest Arizona, c. 1965

I

Father .. says pick ’em off
when you see ’em crush ’em
under this big flat stained
rock or a shoe .. the spreading
mess haunted long before
Kafka’s moth found me

before this grown girl
admired the sweet scent
tomatoes hot in a backyard
desert sun .. Bright grass-green
mythic beast as long as my palm

lumbers among vines rising
a foot above my crown .. One
horn five yellow spots too many
legs cling tight under shady leaves
he hides and grazes at night

II

Steady, a scientist or a child follows hatching eggs
caterpillar larva bury selves as sarcophagus
pupa before their dusky flutters find petunias.
Who else understands a winged monster inhabits
all cells? Did my dry-land farming granddaddy
relish last light grace or did spots signal only harm?
We sacrifice a few succulent globes for magic.

III

I caught a humming bird
hovering over twilight
at Mother’s honeysuckle
Now .. I know it wasn’t but
Manduca quinquemaculata
transformed unknowingly
Insect hawk sipping nectar

by Deb Scott

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