Friday, October 26, 2007

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

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