Skip Navigation

Datura

By Brooks Haxton

When the full moon rises
and the sphinx moth, hidden
all day, hovers into the twilight
between smoky blurs of wings,
in midair she spools loose
her tongue, and dips her body
into the grail cup of the fumes
for which to be the sphinx
at nightfall is to yearn.

Brooks Haxton’s most recent collection is Uproar: Antiphonies to Psalms. He teaches at Syracuse University and at Warren Wilson College.
Presented by

More at The Atlantic

'State of the WaPo' Watch: Two Articles Worth Reading The State of the Washington Post
The agony of Nabeel Rajab The Plight of Bahrain's Activist Leader
Can't We Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Mass Refinancing? Can't We Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Mass Refinancing?
Anne Rice, 'Secret World of Arrietty': The Week Ahead in Pop Culture The Week in Pop Culture
In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›

The Biggest Story in Photos

Athens in Flames

Feb 13, 2012

On Newsstands Now

Subscribe and SAVE 59%
10 issues JUST $2.45/COPY

The Atlantic Monthly

James Fallows on Obama's first term, Raymond Bonner on the death penalty, Christopher Hitchens on G.K. Chesterton, and more

Browse back issues of The Atlantic that have appeared on the Web. From September 1995 to the present, the archive is essentially complete, with the exception of a few articles, the online rights to which are held exclusively by the authors.

See All Back Issues: September 1995
To The Present »

Premium Archive

For a small fee you can now access more than a century of Atlantic Monthly articles in our online archive. The archive includes articles from 1857 to the present.

Prices » | Login for Saved Items » | Help »

Sort by:
Dates:
From: 
To: 
Author:  (optional)
Title:  (optional)

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)