I Love the Noise of Butterflies
Creased clothes are suffocating
the ironing board in the cellar
but today I am a sundial.
Peace is overflowing my garden
like honeysuckle climbing
the low sandstone wall. Close by,
the perennial my sister gave
has doubled its leafy dome
and a red admiral homes in
on a white porcelain bowl -
like an heirloom mended with carmine -
cinereum Ballerina.
I love the noise of butterflies.
Gently this one unfolds, displaying
jewellery on velvet. It sets up shop
on every bloom in turn. Thirteen. A shadow
grazes my shoulder, skims the geranium,
faces me blatantly on the wall:
our spotted flycatcher.
How often I’ve admired his aerial stunts;
now his neck flutters as he swallows.
Page(s) 32
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