Friday, August 07, 2020

Poetry Friday: Spotted in the backyard

Our ever-charming Poetry Friday host, Laura Purdie Salas, is thinking and talking about anxiety today. I'm right there with you, Laura. With a teacher-husband and a teacher-daughter returning to work next week and a governor who not only refuses to mandate masks but actually threatens legal action against leaders who want to protect the public with said mandated mask-wearing (I'm stupefied by this), well, I'm ... distracting myself.

So.

Spotted in the backyard yesterday, thanks to Anne-with-an-e (who, in her 20s, still stops what she's doing to notice an astonishing little bit of beauty, and then share it with others):


Munching monarch,
overlord of the milkweed,
unstoppable force.

~ Karen Edmisten


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10 comments:

tanita✿davis said...

Unstoppable indeed.
Candles lit for your teachers - I hardly even know anymore what to hope for, it's all such a mess.
Be well.

Ruth said...

Beautiful. It's somehow comforting this year that the caterpillar is an unstoppable force. Sending up prayers for your teacher family - and for my own! At least we have to wear masks here. I just can't understand what is the matter with people, honestly.

Linda B said...

I am in love with milkweed and finding those caterpillars at a lake where I go walking, Karen. Now you've given me a poem to go with me! Best wishes for the teachers in your life and for them all. The craziness astounds me.

laurasalas said...

Overlord of the milkweed--I love that! I am sending up protective wishes for your family, Karen. I am so glad my teacher sister retired recently after 30 years. I am so worried about all my teacher friends and their families.

author amok said...

How wonderful, Karen! My 20-something and I came across a monarch-covered milkweed field the other day. We're plotting to plant a monarch way-station in our yard next year.

elli said...

Prayers Karen!! What mad times, eh!? Here it's the other way 'round — governor trying to order masks etc, but being stymied by the state supreme court and legislature. It defies all reason ...

Beautiful caterpillar! :-)

Mary Lee said...

I, too, will light some candles for your teachers. I get to spend the first semester remote, and I couldn't be happier.

Still waiting for the monarchs here. My milkweed is abundant and ready to be ravaged. Me, too. (Abundantly ready to be ravaged by their beauty, that is...)

Karen Edmisten said...

Tanita, thanks for the candles. Yes, a mess indeed. One day at a time.
Ruth, prayers coming your way, too, and thank you. Yes, I do find it comforting that nature's beauty is eternal and unstoppable.
Linda, what a delightful thought that I can accompany you in a small way around that lake. :)
Laura, thank you for the kind words about the poem and for the protective wishes!
Laura Shovan -- I love that you're going to plant a monarch way-station. :)
Penelope, yes, mad times that defy reason. The science is so clear.
Mary Lee, count on candles being lit for you, too, and I'm so happy to hear that you are totally remote this semester!

michelle kogan said...

Aren't monarchs wonderful, and your poem is a wonderful tribute to them. I love finding a monarch caterpillar amongst the milkweed in my yard ( I grow a small forest of them each summer) which brings a handful of monarchs. Sending your teaching family positive thoughts.

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks so much, Michelle, and I love the idea of a forest of milkweed in the backyard. :)