Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Butterfly
Posted on April 8, 2016 in Poems
Geisha,
chalk love-death mask,
silk wings pinned to a hope.
Only Sharpless can see Lust’s doom
Wedding.
Now the man in white and gold screws
the delicate bug and leaves.
Sorrow, blossoms,
a knife.
The title of this cinquain refers to two things: the opera Madama Butterfly and to the style of cinquain that I employed, a butterfly.
Sharpless is the compassionate American consul who tries to talk the oversexed Pinkerton out of his plan of marrying — seducing — Butterfly
