Poetry from Elizabeth Sunflower

Photo by Shawn Harrahan. Used under CC BY-SA 2.5

samia cynthia

a hush assigned a body
a fastening of density to moonlight
the moth lands
furry and graceless

surprise is cool on the skin
as midnight this moth
a brush of air beneath a moon
against a dense screen of cloud

a moony night light hush
cast across the cloud
this night and this moth and me
three bodies fast and graceful

I never saw her
I never saw her
I never saw her pinned
to a card under glass

In Philadelphia in 1861, the cynthia moth was introduced into North America for the purpose of manufacturing silk, but the industry never developed, and the moth, after thriving in the wild, became extinct.
Frank, Kenneth D. Ecology of Center City, Philadelphia. Fitler Square Press, 2015, p. 45.

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Elizabeth Sunflower is a poet, teacher, wife, mother, and rock collector living in Philadelphia.