ornithoptera alexandrae

the thyroid is a butterfly
-shaped gland at the base
of the neck

mine is a Queen
Alexandria’s Birdwing
with a wingspan
the length of a ruler

three months or years ago
the trouble started life
as a tiny larva
safe within the poison
of the host plant it grew
and swelled and took the poison
into itself

upon hatching
its first act was to eat
its own shell

its second
to start on me

Spot the Killy II

Hello. I have been ill ill ill, and bored. Today I started making myself a cardboard puppet theatre so I could do a show for the cat. Unfortunately cutting through the thick cardboard with a pair of blunt scissors only set off my rsi and didn't make much of an impact on the box. I really need to get a craft knife, but I am broke too. Killy wasn't too interested in the puppet I made of him, either. Booo.

Anyway, the point of that story is that I was so bored that sketched the Killy. This is from a photo, the living Killy would never stay still long enough for an amateur artist like me to sketch. I've never drawn a cat before, only people, so I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. It's recognisably Killy, even though I made the eye too small and the stripe next to the eye too long to compensate. The scan isn't great either and the original looks much better, but the wonderful Ellie McKitchen Wench adjusted the scan to look sort of normal, which it didn't before. Thanks matey!

By the way, you can click the above picture to see it bigger, though the lines are very harsh when you do.

I'll probably try a sketch of the boyfriendcreature's cat next. After I finish my puppet theatre.