Mariposa de la Muerte

Pupae were placed
in the mouths of the victims.

With my back against the wall
I can see this for what it is–

the pursuit of velvet.

Louise Mathias is the author of Lark Apprentice, which won the New Issues Poetry Prize, and The Traps, forthcoming from Four Way Books. She splits her time between the wilds of Joshua Tree, California, and the wilds of Northern Indiana.

*Photo courtesy of lostinfog.