Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/05/21

Butterfly Confidential

I
saw it
coming
at me
and I
could have

swerved

but I didn’t.
My tires
are new
enough, the
paint
isn’t peeling

so, I

kept going
at full
speed
and didn’t
slow down
even when

we collided

… this butterfly
and me
or
rather
my windshield
now
splattered
with green
bug blood

if it’s blood

at all. It
lingered – wings
whipping in the
wind
and maybe

glared

at me
for a
moment
(can it do
that?) before
the sheer

velocity

ripped it
from my
sight
into the
path of
someone
moving slower

than me.

©2021 L.B. Sedlacek All rights reserved.

L.B. Sedlacek has had poetry and fiction appear in different journals and zines. Her first short story collection came out on Leap Day 2020 entitled Four Thieves of Vinegar published by Alien Buddha Press. Her latest poetry books are The Poet Next Door (Cyberwit), The Adventures of Stick People on Cars (Alien Buddha Press), The Architect of French Fries (Presa Press) and Words and Bones (Finishing Line Press.) She is a former Poetry Editor for “ESC! Magazine” and co-hosted the podcast “Coffee House to Go.” LB also enjoys swimming, reading, and playing ukulele.