genus: nyctimene (fifteen species)
species: broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat (nyctimene aello)
genus: nyctimene (fifteen species)
welcome to our genus!
the nocturnal nyctimene.
you likely have not seen us,
we don’t like to be seen.
nyctimene, in roman myth,
was the king of lesbos’s daughter,
and according to the legend
was assaulted by her father.
she fled to the forest, deeply scarred
by her father’s deed most foul.
the goddess minerva found her there
and turned her into an owl.
nyctimene hid from the light
out of her sorrow and shame.
minerva took pity on her soul.
nocturnal owl she became.
someone thought to give this name
to us, the tube-nosed bat.
i don’t like it. firstly, we’re not owls!
but it goes further than that.
the story is so negative,
and i’m not sure which is worst,
that it implies nocturnal creatures’
origins are accursed,
or that nyctimene had to hide
inside the forest deep,
robbed of her humanity
when her father was the creep.
why did minerva not turn him
into a creeping bug or such?
the other thing about this myth
that bothers me so much
is the way that the darkness
is treated with disrespect,
as if it hides evils and sins,
when really it heals and protects.
my namesake troubles me,
regardless, i’m glad with who i am.
i hang from a twig eating a fig
and carry on, thank you ma’am.
