It’s A Photograph And This

The Moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the Sun

“Timon Of Athens”
Shakespeare

The Red Admiral is the butterfly featured by Vladimir Nabokov, an amateur lepidopterist, in his novel "Pale Fire"

‘Vanessa Atalanta’ at Wikipedia

Of the butterflies Juli that could land
outside my front window this is the one
that landed this afternoon and I bet
you don’t recognize it but you know it

and isn’t it strange I recognize it
but I’ve never read Nabokov’s “Pale Fire”
but I do know what metafiction is
and I took this photograph carefully
but I do know what metafiction is
and I wish Juli we could talk about
how I could recognize the butterfly
as a Red Admiral and you couldn’t
and you could describe Nabokov’s “Pale Fire”
to me and explain all the tricky bits
so us talking about the butterfly
would be something like a commentary
if the Red Admiral in my front yard
were something like a text with allusions
but at least it’s a photograph and this
though this isn’t as carefully crafted
as the photo’s out-of-focus background
but the photo’s about the butterfly
and I wish Juli we could talk about
the butterfly or Nabokov’s “Pale Fire”
or the photo or this or anything
but when I try to see or remember
the background to this it’s out-of-focus
though you’re there in the foreground and pretty.

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