
Illustration of a swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon) by Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905-90), who used the pen-name of BB for books like The Little Grey Men (1942)
Illustration of a swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon) by Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905-90), who used the pen-name of BB for books like The Little Grey Men (1942)
It caught my eye, it caught my eye,
That fluttering flake of fallen sky.
It rode the wind as cars bored by
And did not die:
And shall not die,
That fluttering flake of fallen sky.
Post-Performative Post-Scriptum
A poem written months ago about a briefly glimpsed blue butterfly flying along — and over — a busy road. I don’t know the species, but Polyommatus icarus seems a reasonable guess.
“Adonis, M. Cytheris, and M. Menelaus, is indescribable; the eyes are pained as they gaze upon it; yet there is said to be an unnamed species from the emerald mountains of Bogota, of which a single specimen is in a private cabinet in London, which is far more lustrous than these.” — The Romance of Natural History (1861), Philip Henry Gosse
When they opened the trap, I was astonished by the range and beauty of their catch. There were pink and olive elephant hawkmoths; a pine hawkmoth, feathered and ashy; a buff arches, patterned and gilded like the back of a barn owl; flame moths in polished brass; the yellow kites of swallow-tailed moths; common emeralds the colour of a northern sea, with streaks of foam; grey daggers; a pebble prominent; heart and darts; coronets; riband waves; willow beauties; an elder pearl; small magpie; double-striped pug; rosy tabby. The names testify to a rich relationship between these creatures and those who love them. — George Monbiot, “Our selective blindness is lethal to the living world”, The Guardian, 20xii2017
Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Protean Prose – The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby, Charles Kingsley (1863)
• Schmetterlingsschmuck – Butterfly, Thomas Marent (Dorling Kindersley 2013)
• Criblia – ბიბლია / Biblia (Georgian Bible) (2013)
• Micro Macro – Super Bugs: The Biggest, Fastest, Deadliest Creepy Crawlies on the Planet, John Woodward with Dr George McGavin (Dorling Kindersley 2016)
• Chute: The Lot – The Fallen: Life In and Out of Britain’s Most Insane Group, Dave Simpson (Canongate paperback 2009)
• Twice Has Thrice the Vice – Pisces, Peter Sotos, with an introduction by Dr Miriam B. Stimbers (TransVisceral Books 2017)
• Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
Cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae, on ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris
Update: In fact, it’s a Six-spot burnet, Zygaena filipendulae, on ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris. Probably.