The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Barbara Orton

Moths: A Taxonomy

Rustic shoulder-knot, double-striped pug,
setaceous Hebrew character,
little virgin tiger, spun-glass slug,

red-necked footman, nutmeg, drinker,
Mother Shipton, little thorn,
small magpie, drab tent-maker,

police car, unambiguous, blood-vein,
confused Haploa, joyful Holomelina,
Frank’s sphinx, Richard’s fungus, Juanita’s lichen,

beautiful snout, confusing Petrophila,
brown China mark, middle-barred minor,
red-washed prominent, zigzag Furcula,

agreeable tiger, dubious tiger, forgotten tiger,
double-toothed prominent, ochreous pug,
sordid underwing, sharp-stigma looper,

heart and dart, heart and club,
penitent underwing, little wife, old maid,
diabolical fungus, everlasting bud.


Nocturne

The windows of suburban houses
at dusk, suffused with yellow light,
shine their quiet code: This is your home.

Open the door. Surely
someone will let you in. The fire burns down
in the fireplace; the children are tucked in.

Outside, the moon hangs crisp and full
over the angled roof, the roof that seems
to bring the moon in closer. They will let you in,

kind strangers, and you will belong here,
you will be safe here, you will be their child.


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