A September Sunday waiting 
for my husband to fish 
the Pidgeon River, 
I found a flock 
of fifty swallowtails sipping 
salt from stones 
on the embankment, 
their wings shivering 
like slips of paper 
penned with prayers 
I once saw waving from beneath 
rocks on Monte Subasio 
at the Prisoner’s Hermitage 
where Saint Francis immured 
himself within grottoes, 
starving himself into the invisible 
life. The swallowtails were solid 
as boats rocking 
side by side, 
antennae, legs, abdomens immovable 
as they probed for minerals, nuptial gifts 
for waiting females, so engrossed 
in their meal they climbed 
onto my hands 
sticking proboscises 
between my fingers to drink my sweat. 
I sat immured by butterflies 
blissfully unaware of my body, 
as they hummed, 
wings quivering in the river breeze 
preparing for flight. 

Susan Tekulve’s

newest book is Second Shift: Essays (Del Sol Press). She is the author of In the Garden of Stone (Hub City Press), winner of the South Carolina Novel Prize and a Gold IPPY Award. She’s also published two short-story collections: Savage Pilgrims (Serving House Books) and My Mother’s War Stories (Winnow Press), the latter of which received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize. Her web chapbook, Wash Day, appears in the Web Del Sol International Chapbook Series.

Her nonfiction, short stories, and essays have appeared in journals such as Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Louisville Review, Puerto del Sol, New Letters, and Shenandoah. Selections from her photo essay, “White Blossoms,” appeared in Earth Hymn (Volume 6 of the KYSO Flash Anthology), with the full essay published online in Issue 12 of KYSO Flash.

Ms. Tekulve has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She teaches in the BFA and MFA writing programs at Converse University.

Author’s website: https://susantekulve.com/