Monarch

by Caitlin Stobie

Black-veined orange,
the Latin proves it:
yours is a regal species.

But now you’re dead
centre in an unmoving wiper
(I, driver, was too late to swerve).

At speed, your wings still
serve their purpose –
fluttering hurricanes somewhere.

Caitlin Stobie’s poetry has appeared in online and print journals including Plumwood Mountain, Poetry & Audience, The Kalahari Review, New Coin, and New Contrast. She is a director of the Leeds Animal Studies Network and editor of EPIZOOTICS!, an online journal for the contemporary animal.