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...THE EXECUTIVE by DAVID IGNATOW VOLUPTAS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JAMES GARBER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS PEACE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS ON THE DEATH OF MR. CRASHAW by ABRAHAM COWLEY SEVEN TIMES SIX [ - GIVING IN MARRIAGE] by JEAN INGELOW |