Butterfly Season

The butterflies are back
(no, not the monarchs
that’s next week)

This week it’s the snout-nosed butterfly
the symbol of life
the color of dirt

August drought
then September rain
means they swarm

this warm afternoon
thronging north
two blocks hence

to Hackberry Street
not properly migrating
just messing around

In my car I dodge their kamikaze
swerve toward my windshield
Others cling to a healthy branch

pulling it down like dead leaves
playing possum with my heart.
I walk until I find a hackberry

defoliated by butterflies
The tree will recover
Just not this year

— Megan Willome, author of The Joy of Poetry




All poems, art, and photos are public domain, creative commons, or used by permission of author or publisher. Photo by Anne Reeves, via Flickr.

 

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