Poem
Pascale Petit
Atlas Moth
Atlas Moth
Atlas Moth
This giant atlas moth’s broad wingscould be the map of China.
Here are two Great Walls. And there
on the Manchurian tip of each forewing
are dragon heads to scare off predators.
But what are those windows in the map,
where crystal scales let in the light?
As if earth’s skin has windows
and at certain times of the evening
they open. The newly emerged atlas
perches on my hand, and it trembles –
like a new world, warming up for its first flight.
© 2008, Pascale Petit
From: The Treekeeper’s Tale
Publisher: Seren, Bridgend
From: The Treekeeper’s Tale
Publisher: Seren, Bridgend
Pascale Petit
(France, )
Pascale Petit was born in Paris, grew up in France and Wales and lives in Cornwall. She is of French/Welsh/Indian heritage. Her eighth collection, Tiger Girl, from Bloodaxe in 2020, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and a poem from the book won the Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize. Her poems have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, The Poetry Archive and Australia’s ABC Radi...
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Poems of Pascale Petit
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Atlas Moth
This giant atlas moth’s broad wingscould be the map of China.
Here are two Great Walls. And there
on the Manchurian tip of each forewing
are dragon heads to scare off predators.
But what are those windows in the map,
where crystal scales let in the light?
As if earth’s skin has windows
and at certain times of the evening
they open. The newly emerged atlas
perches on my hand, and it trembles –
like a new world, warming up for its first flight.
From: The Treekeeper’s Tale
Atlas Moth
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