Liz Ahl
Moth
Inside the moth, a small machine
of gears and spindles churns the wings
into their pussywillow flutter.
It bats its cotton batting against the bulb,
aspiring to touch the unreachable flame
at the very center of light, this force
that calls it across the pitch black forest
to the porchlight. The bats come, too,
drawn by the song of the moths
to feast and roost right next to the door
I won't open until morning when I step out
to sweep away the scraps.
of gears and spindles churns the wings
into their pussywillow flutter.
It bats its cotton batting against the bulb,
aspiring to touch the unreachable flame
at the very center of light, this force
that calls it across the pitch black forest
to the porchlight. The bats come, too,
drawn by the song of the moths
to feast and roost right next to the door
I won't open until morning when I step out
to sweep away the scraps.
Liz Ahl is the author of the poetry collections A Case for Solace (forthcoming in 2022 from Lily Poetry Review Books) and Beating the Bounds (Hobblebush Books, 2017). She is also the author of several chapbooks, including Home Economics and Talking About the Weather (both from Seven Kitchens Press), Luck (Pecan Grove Press), and A Thirst That’s Partly Mine (Slapering Hol Press). She lives in Holderness, New Hampshire where many beautiful and interesting moths also reside. Online, you can find her at lizahl.com, or @SurlyAcres (Twitter), as well as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Liz-Ahl-220024568036054).