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One Poem  

Anthony Lawrence

Entomology: a Love Story

I became aware of a future
     love affair with insects
              when I saw, on the lapel

of a woman’s coat, a pair
     of blue and green beetles
              I’d mistaken for antique

enamel brooches. And while
     I was young and under
              the low cloud cover

of over-protective parents,
     I could still recognise
              beauty when it came

to rest in front of me.
     Before the woman turned
              and moved on, the beetles

climbed from the dark
     weave of her winter coat
              to her hair, where

they opened the secret
     compartments inside
              their backs like ox-

blood panels, then set
     the miniature hydraulics
              beneath their wings

in motion, a departure
     remembered as much
              for its transparency

as the signature
     ignition of faith
              in the nature of desire

I had been cultivating
     at home, when alone,
              in the dark.