November 6, 2023

My Poisonous Cousin the Pipevine Swallowtail

Amy Beeder

come again in summer, larvae ravening the bitter vine

blood-red & brimmed with acid, devil-headed
you know when this present matter to decant

when to fix in silk & all your proteins disassemble

when to rise with codes & poisons all intact, emerge
aswoon for phlox & blue-dick, broom & thistle

any littered ditch or piss, any dumpster’s leaked suspension.

I’ll swan with you anon my kith, anon my Kin-Most-Mimicked,
arch-destroyer now crossed over. How sweetly hid

your tongue, how plush your dust, your one torn wing―

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“I learned about the pipevine swallowtail one night while watching PBS. Battus philenor is an iridescent black and blue butterfly known for sequestering acids from the plants it feeds on as a defense against predators—a strategy so successful that some other butterflies imitate this swallowtail’s colors. I found all this fascinating and, of course, potentially metaphorical: the defensive methods and their imitation, the transformation, and also that, during mating, male pipevine swallowtails offer nuptial gifts derived from the nutritional content of salt, mud, and dung.”
—Amy Beeder

Amy Beeder is the author of And So Wax Was Made & Also Honey (Tupelo Press, 2020), Now Make an Altar (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2012), and Burn the Field (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2008). The recipient of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Merrill House, and Bread Loaf, among other organizations, she lives in Albuquerque.

And So Wax Was Made & Also Honey
(Tupelo Press, 2020)

“Sonnet V” by Mahmoud Darwish
read more

“Countdown as Slow Kisses” by Michael Watson
read more

Thanks to Steve Bellin-Oka, author of Instructions for Seeing a Ghost (University of North Texas Press, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read or listen to a Q&A about Bellin-Oka’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

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"My Poisonous Cousin the Pipevine Swallowtail" by Amy Beeder

My Poisonous Cousin the Pipevine Swallowtail

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast

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