It's a slow, slow process. A clumsy male milkweed caterpillar is turning itself into a butterfly. It hangs from the underside of a withered leaf dark among a pungent cluster of rich leaves. Just hangs there as though it were not changing at all. But at a certain point in its natural growth caterpillar thinks it can decide which way it wants to go -- to fly or die. Should it take an oath and dream of having the loveliness of the tiger butterfly or maybe become a @3friar@1 butterfly? Caterpillar is a dreamer, and a natural schemer. In this changing light the cuticle-shaped drops of fluid glow and glow like red nectar. It changes itself as it hangs there, wedged tightly as though bolted with metal springs. It now throws off brighter light -- a light of silver-purple outlined in gold -- with golden trimmings. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STORIES ARE MADE OF MISTAKES by JAMES GALVIN MATERNITY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WHEN I RISE UP by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WITH CHAOS IN EACH KISS by TIMOTHY LIU THE JOY OF THE HILLS by EDWIN MARKHAM SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JUDGE SELAH LIVELY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |