Imago
A moth grips a rusted screen,
its wings crowded with eyes.
Moth from the moon
more lovely than green silk.
Breathing as I breathe.
In the sharp scent of heat at the top
of the house, trees lean away
from the blurred roofline.
The language I used to know,
the lost fluency, what was taken
won’t be returned to me.
The moth knocks the screen.
It has no mouth. It cannot eat.
If I can choose what to remember
I’ll take eyes at a window,
green wings, glitter, lightfall.
Barbara Daniels’s Talk to the Lioness was published by Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press in 2020. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Lake Effect, Cleaver, Faultline, Small Orange, Meridian, and elsewhere. Barbara Daniels received a 2020 fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
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