and so it begins

[billy rubin]

two or three years ago i noticed that there were fewer butterflies in the fields and woodlands where i live

this year there are skippers and fritillaries and minor stuff, but i can count the monachs and big swallowtails ive seen this year on my fingers. theyre not here.

walking sticks and mantids. not here

last night at midnight i came in from a difficult day- 22 hours in the truck, broken parts, skipped deliveries and so on.

looked up at the big night light at the shop, out in the country.

no insects. not one.

no moths, no beetles, no neuropterans, no craneflies, nothing. one moth came by while i watched.

my house used to have waterfalls of scarab beetles coming in tbe windows in may

this year i saw one.

thetes cicadas all day and long horned grasshoppers and crickets at night, but no papillionids hardly

[Tank]

I have flowers in my garden specifically for insects, bees and butterflies. I have only seen 2 or 3 butterflies this whole years so far

[billy rubin]

then i saw a monarch shelter under the maple leaves from an appproaching thunderstorm