Challenging Poetry

silk road

I was looking for silk,
gradient lace weight yarn
for a shawl, so I looked
and found almond milk and spiders
and mulberry trees and worms, or rather larvae
of moths who spin in the hopes
of finding wings—and flying

In a second, a butterfly will flap its wings
about twelve times and travel about
two and a half meters.

Butterfly is Psyche in Greek, who was also
the wife of Eros, who nearly lost him
through her curiosity, standing over him
with a candle to find his face when she
promised she'd keep the lights off.

Candle power measures
the intensity of light. Beeswax makes
the best candles.

In a second, a bee will beat its wings
about two-hundred fifty times and travel
about three meters.
Bees dance to communicate.

When I was very young, I dressed
as a bee with my class and danced.
I stopped in the middle to give another
girl a hug because she was crying.

Once, my sister danced
as a butterfly.

She had silk wings.

April 6— Rabbit hole—start a poem on one topic, and let it lead you down a “rabbit hole” of discovery, burrowing into various topics, and maybe ending far, far away from where you started.