COUNTERPOINTS

COUNTERPOINTS


A red admiral butterfly that keeps changing sizes turns out to be two butterflies, wary of each other, wary about perching on my legs.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch, 06-21-12


 Changing forms in midair is de rigueur
 for mating mariposas; little wonder they
 attract curious attention about how love
 makes them ape the graceful twists
 of aerialists locked in prurient embrace
 even if they had no feelings for each other.
 It’s when they come closer to my legs
 that they become wary of each other,
 just as I become weary of being alone.
 If they perch on my legs, I would be part
of creation, the one that multiplies, leave
them alone until satiated, they fly elsewhere,
change sizes, and merge again wherever
gardens require them to bring in the worms.


—Albert B. Casuga
 06-22-12