Thursday, April 5, 2012

E is for Entomology:  The Study of Bugs

I remember
the postage stamp garden
I remember
water mellon rinds, on the garden heap
oozing fermented, bubbling juice
I remember

A kaleidoscope of butterflies
Sipping, water mellon wine

I remember reading -
butterflies taste with their feet
I remember
black and blue flutterbys
With extended proboscis
I remember
butterflies staggering
too drunk to fly.


*Flutterbys, kaleidoscope, rabble are all words that mean a swarm or group of butterflies.

5 comments:

  1. "I remember
    A kaleidoscope of butterflies

    Sipping, water melon wine"Love that line with a kaleidoscope of butterflies...I loved butterfly watching, identifying, and chasing.  And sometimes they would land on my hand and I would watch them extend their long proboscis to my skin.  It seemed like a kind of butterfly handshake.

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  2. I wish I had had this on Monday for a non-fiction poetry lesson.  It would have been great for the students to see how poetic one can be with some knowledge and observations.  Love the 'staggering/too drunk to fly'.  Did they really seem to act like that?  And 'postage stamp' garden leaves me with so many questions, Ruth.  A poem that is very nice to read!

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  3. Ruth Ferris/StorykeeperApril 5, 2012 at 7:59 AM

    Having them land on your hand must have been so thrilling!  I have always liked to watch them.

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  4. It was thrilling.  There were some butterflies that seemed to me to be playing with me, in that they would fly off a little ways from me, land and wait until I got close, then fly just a bit further and stop and wait for me again.  They were the ones I knew would let me hold them in a bit, if I just played their game.  Maybe they were the ones who'd been into the watermelon wine somewhere!  But I just know some were friendly like that.

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  5. Ruth Ferris/StorykeeperApril 5, 2012 at 3:26 PM

    They staggered, and listed back and forth.  That was probably the only reason I was able to get so close and see the extended proboscis.  It was amazing to see.  I have only seen it the one time.

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