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You are here: Home / Poems for Teachers / Poetry Friday: Chrysalis

Poetry Friday: Chrysalis

November 16, 2007 By Laura

Mary Logue is a award-winning Minnesota writer of adult novels, children’s novels, and poetry. She taught the very first class I took at the Loft Literary Center. Now she and her partner, National Book Award-winning Pete Hautman (how’s that for a powerhouse writing couple…geez!) live and sometimes write together (see their Bloodwater mystery middle grade series).

Anyway, I love Mary’s poetry. Her first collection that I was aware of was Discriminating Evidence. Recently, I came across a new collection called Meticulous Attachment.

This book had lots of wonderful poems in it. Here’s one of my very favorites.

Chrysalis

The end result is
a jewel of a house,
lime-green capsule
dotted with gold leaf,
but the resignation
with which it’s done
makes me think there’s pain
involved: the last desperate
munching of milkweed leaves,
the search for the solid branch,
the meticulous attachment.

The caterpillar swings free
and hangs upside down
in a question mark.
I can almost hear it wonder–
why am I doing this?

As the body splits,
it shrugs out of its skin
to hang–green teardrop–
in wide open space,
waiting for wings.

—Mary Logue  (all rights reserved)

Great metaphor for writing, too, was my first thought. I love the jewel of a house, the desperate munching, and that gorgeous final line. 

The roundup is at Big A little a today!

Tagged With: Poetry Friday, teen/adult poems

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