Why I wrote a song about the Luna moth

I first saw a Luna moth in 2008. I was sitting in a poetry writing class in a Vermont barn when one of those huge, green creatures settled down on the screen door. Our teacher, in his playful Irish accent, asked us to stop talking and ponder the lovely moth for a moment. After all, what’s the point of poetry if you don’t put it down when a beautiful Luna displays herself to you.

Alas, this charmed rural reverie was broken when a student alerted us to the moth’s Wikipedia page where he discovered the horrible truth about Lunas: they have no mouths. They can’t eat or drink. They can only fly and screw. As Wikipedia says, “They emerge as adults solely to mate, and as such, only live approximately one week.”

Science has made very clear that a wide variety of animals, such as parrots and octopuses, experience some form of consciousness However, while we know many animals think and feel, we simply don’t what they think and feel. And where science falters, song must take its place. 

I don’t know what it’s like to wake up knowing you have days to live, and in that brief time, you have to sign up for Tinder, find your life partner, register for gifts, get married, and have kids.

All while trying to avoid bats and owls. How ever do the Lunas do it?! They are the unsung heroes of the animal world, and that’s precisely what I have decided to sing about them.