The Green Lacewing

1 Minute Read Time

A green lacewing rests on a stem. Its wings are black and blue-green, transparent and very lace-like. It has long black antennae that stick out in front of its head. — Image via Wikimedia Commons

The first door.
The tympanal organ. What
flight—what pollen—
what call—what slight
iridescence, the veins,
through the leaves,
the watching. The drop 
down, within 
reason. Within 
reason. Un-
dressing. The first door.
Crepuscular. The wing-
span. What elongating,
aviating, undoing light, what,
the deltoid, the oblique,
it was asking, sinking,
onto the bare back,
again, what
you cannot have,
its elevation, its soft
landing, almost paper,
clearly moving,
across.

Kyle Okeke

is a writer from Sugar Land, Texas, whose work has appeared in Poetry and was awarded the Evaristo Prize for African Poetry and the Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship. He is pursuing an MFA in creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin’s New Writers Project.

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