five flies

i love (almost) all of these beautiful creatures. the dragonflies patrol the sky above our yard, eating mosquitoes and gnats. the damselflies perch daintily on the tips of bulrushes and sometimes land on my arms as soft as a cat, saying hello before they resume their rounds. the moths animate our evening floodlights. the crane flies bump clownishly against the window, leggy and awkward as baby deer or teenage sons. and then, there are the deer flies. chewing holes in my ankles and scalp. may they rot in hell.

deer fly, crane fly, white moth, damsel fly, dragon fly