Under the Dome
At times they will fly under. The dome
contains jungles. Invent a sky under the dome.
Creatures awake, asleep, at play, aglow:
they float – unbottled genii – under the dome.
Southern Belle, a splash of black, dusted with gold,
dissembles, assembling, acts shy under the dome.
Cattleheart, Giant Swallowtail, Clipper:
sail, navigate sky high under the dome.
Like confetti – a wedding – bits of Rice
Paper: sheer mimicry under the dome.
Magnificent Owl, in air, a pansy,
it feeds, wings up, eye to eye, under the dome.
Name them: Monarch, then Queen, last Viceroy.
What will scientists deify under the dome?
Basking against a leaf: a Banded Orange,
displayed like a bowtie under the dome.
A living museum. Exist to be observed:
never migrate, but live, then die, under the dome.
Lips, lashes, eyes. From outside in,
do beings magnify under the dome?
Lepidoptera. From the Greek: Scale-wing.
Chrysalis. Stay, butterfly, under the dome.
Copyright Credit: Elise Paschen, “Under the Dome” from Bestiary. Copyright © 2009 by Elise Paschen. Reprinted with permission by Red Hen Press.
Source: Bestiary (Red Hen Press, 2009)