Sternocera Aequisignata
A poem for America
Sternocera Aequisignata
Unlike abalone
your iridescence
is on the outside
first thought to attract
a mate or tell predators
of your poison now
we understand it
as a form of camouflage
like the stars
or the opalescence
of a pearl necklace
around a goddess’s
neck distracting
the universe
and all its children
from the dark
especially the boy
in the bleachers
who’s cupped
a jewel beetle
in his hands believing
it to be a druzy foil
that shook free
sprouted wings
and flew back to
the planet where
there’s nothing to fear
except everything
that’s beautiful.
TFP IS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE IOWA WRITERS COLLABORATIVE
This powerful unfurling, spiraling in, out, then in and out again... "nothing to fear except everything that's beautiful" indeed. So gorgeously rendered Michael and terrifying, like the Sternocera Aequisignata and America both.