Tall Stories

Tall Stories

 

 

gutter flies mistaken for butterflies

fluttering as they bounce off garbage cans

 

looking for beautiful flowers

upon which to light

 

guffawing at the litter as

The world is pure in their many eyes

 

but they eat it anyway---

would our world be something

 

we would want to eat

if we had wings

 

and knew how to flutter

when all the flowers are

 

just dead high rises?

 

 

10/7/25

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

Dear Jacob
Are we talking dirty city life, cause there is enough garbage for multiple gutter flies and nowhere to go except to land on more garbage stacked almost as tall as the high rises…these poor critters will never see a real flower except in their dreams…
Warmly
B🌷

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind review, Betty.
j.

[Betty Hermelee]

Always a pleasure J.
Warmly,, B
so glad you returned to the inevitable!!!

[emmajoygreen]

Can't understand how people can know all about come-go TV programmes and the latest top song wail.. but the sight of a fly - any kind of fly, can be mistaken for one of the most beautiful and delicate creatures on this planet. Okay, I read weirdly,
arrogant but a buttefly is a baby compared to a giant, a sapling to an over-grown fir, etc' The colour and patterns of buttefly wings are magical, a gallery of delicate beings on their quite brief travels. They are pure magic and myth-like: said to be the spirits of those past. Maybe tis time to stand and stare because as Man, Industry and Pollution increase, they'll disappear. Gone.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

You are spot on...and we are losing our rural areas more and more for industry, skyscrapers, and city pollution.
Poor butterflies.
Thank you for all you said here, em.
j.

[Lorry]

Ahh, but Jacob... think how grand the view would be from that flower, which in my mind is a dandelion, because that would be super comfy to a lowly fly. I bet he feels like he's finally made it out of the gutter, well right up until the lawnmower attacks out of nowhere! 😀

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Damn those lawnmowers.
Thanks, Lorry.
j.

[redzone]

Flies, no matter their appearance or mistaken identities, love dead, rotted things. They love the fetid, morbid aroma of buried bodies . Kind of reminds me of a scene from the destruction of Gaza City, or perhaps Dresden, Hiroshima, Fallujah, or any number of cities where half-eaten high rises stand amidst rubble. I guess one outrage deserves another, as far too many people see only butterflies eating away our humanity.
-Curt

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, Curt, so much damage from wars...a world left rotting.
thank you,
j.

[Chris Shaw]

Flies with their compound eyes need swatting. How a gutter fly can be mistaken for a beautiful butterfly is beyond me. Well practiced in the art of deception I guess. As to flowers, they are so resilient dear j. I am reminded of the destruction on the bombed sites of London and how out of nowhere little flowers appeared and flourished. I raise my glass to all the flowers in our world.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I like where you took this...much further than flowers...thank you, Chris.
j.

[Zoe Richardson]

Insects seem to have the knack of survival. Of course, they only live a few days so I am not sure I would want to be one! A very thought-poem to which I will only say beautiful flowers often struggle up through the cracks in the urban jungle. Be a flower, my friend!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Always a flower...thank you, Zoe,
j.

[Ms claws]

Gosh, Jacob, this reads, initially, like a pissed off author
watching the gutterflies he's mistaken for butterflies as they flit from garbage can to
garbage can eating whatever spills out.
People are like that, right?
You know, we have to let those butterflies find out for themselves.
Sometimes, those butterflies are smarter than we think they are!
Great writing, as always.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your insightful review, Eternity.
j.

[Ms claws]

I appreciate you, Jacob.

[Ms claws]

Jacob, check your messages (: