Remembering the Year of the Monarch
In honor of Poetic Earth Month, which Tweetspeak sponsors, we put together a beautiful commemorative e-book for The Year of the Monarch project, which was hosted by Laura Boggess and Dheepa Maturi.
Inside the e-book you can find all articles from the project, as well as some prose and poems from the Tweetspeak community that were written along the way… by Sharmen Oswald, Laurie Klein, Susan Mulder, Arti Parikh Roy, Dheepa Maturi, and Laura Boggess. The e-book is free for all Tweetspeak patrons!
Already a patron? Get the free ebook now.
Poetry Prompt
If you missed out on The Year of the Monarch, no worries, you can still pen a poem to the colorful queen of the butterflies. Alternately, pen a poem to any creature you cherish and seek to protect in our beautiful world.
Happy Poetic Earth Month!
Get the free ebook (Tweetspeak patron exclusive!)
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Annette Gagliardi says
I have raised Monarch butterflies for years – as a preschool teacher and as an individual who loves butterflies. Here is a poem I wrote a few years ago.
Behold the Butterfly
Behold the luminous butterfly
whose wings reflect the light,
who has no care or want in life,
whose purpose is just right.
We may think we are caterpillar
crawling ‘long leaf and ground;
yet whose to know if that is true?
Such knowledge is profound.
Who’s to say, we’re crawling here?
Who’s to ask and sigh?
Perhaps we are already there
and now are butterfly.
You may even wonder if we are
the egg before the storm;
perhaps we’ll pop out of our shell
and eat into our form.
Or maybe worm our cautious way
along the day and night?
Or maybe beat a steady splay
with wings so very light?
As with the winged butterfly,
so such for me and you;
he’s unaware of his new life-
he’s unaware of you.
And if we are the butterfly,
what next life will be new—
a life we can’t yet claim,
nor understand, nor do?
“What’s next?” you wonder
and so do I –
whether we will crawl
or butterfly.
by Annette Gagliardi
L.L. Barkat says
*Love* that you raise butterflies! And thank you for sharing your heart-felt poem. 🙂