Three caterpillars
fascinating to observe–
Future swallowtails.
A few days ago, a friend posted a picture on Facebook of these amazing creatures devouring his parsley plants. I asked if I could have a few for my classroom. I picked them up yesterday and was a big hit in the hallway walking in. I will be teaching math to a small group of second and third graders,so we will measure and graph their growth and then watch and wait. This is as exciting to me as it is to them. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe we’ll write caterpillar and butterfly poems, too.
Have you ever been stuck or needed something to accelerate you on the road to a poem? This happens to me quite often. One activity I like to try is to steal a line. Sometimes I borrow lines from poets I like, but this time I was in a bookstore. So I grabbed a favorite book, Little Women, and found this, “It seems so long to wait, so hard to do. I want to fly away at once, as those swallows fly, and go in at that splendid gate. I want to be with them in flight.”
I want to hold air as close as a summer blanket,
cottonball soft puffs of a cloud,
floating
for a moment,
to touch its warm belly
and fly.
Who will come with me?
Let’s form a V,
honk like geese,
announce our arrival.
It seems so long to wait
to go in at that splendid gate.
–Margaret Simon
Speaking of flying, you can read about a once-in-a-lifetime hot-air balloon ride here.
Flying Angel over Duperier Street Bridge,
an original painting by Margaret Simon
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Steps and Staircases.
Reflections on the Teche 
I love your idea to taking a line then the poem, and connected so surely with those caterpillars, Margaret! And I like the way the poem sounds, “who will come with me?/ Let’s form a V” and on-terrific! Love the painting you did too!
Linda, this is what I call incidental rhyme, the me and V. I do not consider myself a rhyming poet and often have great difficulty if it is called for. I much prefer free verse with an incidental rhyme. I kept looking at this poem again and again wondering if I should try to rhyme throughout. Thanks for mentioning the sound. I get so much encouragement from the comments everyone leaves. I feel like a comment junkie, especially now that I get a phone alert each time. A gift!
I love the connections you’ve made here, Margaret. What a splendid line – to go in at that special gate! It could mean anything, really – an open-ended statement.
Such an evocative poem, Margaret, especially that first line.
Thank you for the minilesson, for your poem, for your Slice about the ride (and the video), and — hold the phone! — you’re a PAINTER, too???
I like taking art classes but never seem to get around to doing it at home. This painting came from a lesson with a local artist. I combined an element he uses a lot, the flying angel, with a photograph I had of the bridge on our street. Thanks for your comment. Encouragement in all arts is welcome here!
Margaret, it’s amazing how perfectly those lines from Little Women match the photo of your caterpillars. I want to hold summer close, too. Not because I don’t want school to start, but because I’ve had such a lovely summer. I don’t want it to end!
Looking forward to hearing more about your butterflies.
Catherine
The matching didn’t occur to me. I wanted to include the pretty caterpillars and didn’t find a poem to go with it. Then I saw my journal entry and decided to work on it. Somehow it tied together nicely with summer and balloon rides, and even growing caterpillars. Thanks for your comment.
Margaret, Thank you for sharing–I watched your video–beautiful!
I love the imagery in your poem: “I want to hold air as close as a summer blanket,
cottonball soft puffs of a cloud”
I’ve been mesmerized by our clouds this summer–so many, and so puffy and white. Makes me want to look into a hot-air balloon ride myself. Thanks for sharing your magical story and your steal-a-line poem. Enjoy those caterpillars and what they inspire–great teaching tool!
Thanks for visiting my space for Poetry Friday.
Thanks for hosting. I love summer clouds, so full and fluffy. I want to take picture after picture of them. But when we flew, it was a cloudless morning. A perfect blue calm sky. I’m happy the imagery worked for you.
Wow. The “splendid gate” is so 19th century and makes everything–swallows, swallowtails, clouds, geese, balloons–fly through it!
Beautiful poem, Margaret! Fellow teacher and caterpillar here. Don’t you love the stinky little horns those parsleyworms eject when they’re trying to be all big and scary? Yours look like they will be pupating very soon. I posted about some caterpillars on my blog this week, too. Enjoy your caterpillar adventure!