Good. Now here’s what poetry can do.
Imagine yourself a caterpillar.
There’s an awful shrug and, suddenly,
You’re beautiful for as long as you live.
~ Stephen Dunn, from Poem For People That Are Understandably Too Busy To Read Poetry (1966)
Notes:
- Post inspired by: “Butterflies are not insects,’ Captain John Sterling said soberly. ‘They are self-propelled flowers.” from Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. Thank you Beth at Alive on All Channels.
- And inspired by ZME Science: “The caterpillar’s metamorphosis from a tree clinging, 12-legged pest into the majestic flying butterfly is one of the most used metaphors to describe a 180 transformation. It’s truly a fantastic mechanism developed by nature, yet while all my seem fantastic on the outside, this transformation looks pretty gruesome deep inside the chrysalis. In short, for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly it digests itself using enzymes triggered by hormones, before sleeping cells similar to stem cells grow into the body parts of the future butterfly.”
- Stephen Dunn Poem excerpt from The Vale of Soul-Making
- Photo from We Heart It
lovely
magic
And, it only took a shrug. Perfect.
Smiling. Just as simple as that….
For as long as you live. Thank you.
Gave me chills..
Reblogged this on On the Homefront and commented:
the truth…..
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Simply beautiful …. Just imagine!
I just love the way Dunn sees the world…
Yes. Me too Lori. I read his words. Simple, yet wrapped in soul scraping packaging.
[…] via Good. Now here’s what poetry can do. — Live & Learn […]
I’m practicing shrugging. 😉
Not so pretty for awhile…then beautiful forever! What a wonderful thought.
It is!
Perhaps we all have to die a little to transform and evolve…
I’m saying “a little”, because the whole ides of eating myself is way too much to consider!I
Laughing. Me too