
monochrome moth,
but for its yellow cape,
looks pencil drawn
monochrome moth,
but for its yellow cape,
looks pencil drawn
plump caterpillar,
grounded on the sidewalk,
hopes that wings
will come around - before
a careless foot does
the glint in the eye
makes it look round and lustrous,
though it’s a moth wing
a bold moth sits still & confident; the eyes it adds to trees, rocks, and leaves make them mock monsters
… a butterfly lands on your hand while you’re operating a scooter.
Taken in Bangalore in the spring of 2019.
I’ve seen butterflies and moths that had patterns evolved to mimic the eyes of other animals at a butterfly house in a botanical gardens, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in the wild–which is to say in the stairwell of our central Bangalore apartment building. This moth thought the perfect place to exploit its owl-like eyes and “feather pattern” would be on the white marble floor inside a building. Evolution only gets one so far.