Because your father stopped in Strandja park
to point out that whirligig of wings – blue
argus, he said, Ultraaricia
Anteros – you were dazzled forever.
Those wings wafted you here, ten thousand six
hundred kilometres away, to the
University of California,
Davis. Encyclopedia of Insects
in arm, you haul yourself up the stairwell
of Briggs Hall. Your frail sandal spindles on
the threshold – and you trip, a beautiful,
crippled Lycaenidaen specimen,
into the butterfly net of my arms.
Somewhere in Texas, a hurricane stirs.
Short link - http://bit.ly/s4butterfly
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Sam. I wasn't prepared for where this was going...its breathtaking...you've stunned me :-)
ReplyDeleteso lovely- indeed- every moment counts, yes? they are all keepers- or we toss out the whole lot
ReplyDeleteDoes the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? Besides the chaos theory reference, this poem comes from many memories.
ReplyDeleteMy father once wrote a scientific monograph on moths and butterflies. The blue argus butterfly, from the family Lycaenidae, is a specimen restricted to the Balkans in Europe. The 'Encyclopedia of Insects' is a bloody huge book. And, for three years, I lived in Davis, California, where I won my first-ever poetry prize, and where I first fell in love.
Come back to California... obviously, it inspires something very special in you.
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful, Semaphore! So glad to have found you on Twitter and here.
ReplyDeleteJust realized your name is Sam. Haha, I thought it was some sort of exotic name! =)~
DeleteSo many associations with the title alone :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have that Little Blue, where my studio is, on chalky soil it feeds on our local flora and it is as bewitching as you present it entangled in your assorted memories
Stunning! Deep and layered as always - love it! I was looking for a like button :)
ReplyDeleteha very cool how one thing leads to another, leads to another...and the hurricane perhaps in the heart as well...smiles...
ReplyDeleteWhat a chain of actions presenting the butterfly in a very novel and distinct way. Here your scientific knowledge and understanding heightens the beauty and form of the poem. I'm always struck by wonder at your work.
ReplyDeleteoh my, this is just fabulous, the detail of the sandals... perfect.
ReplyDeletewe never know how much one small gesture affects the world around us, but i like to imagine it is just exactly like this.
Beautiful sonnet, a rare find Sem! Yes, is there a correlation! Brazil and Texas are that far apart! Might just be!
ReplyDeleteHank
I like to think there is ~ Lovely butterfly wings of words ~
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Nabokov, lepidopterist. k.
ReplyDeleteThe use of distance here is outstanding, as how the connections or should I say unification is presented between times and places. The intro, part, almost as a cause to the later instances effects. Strong piece Sam. Very good read. Thanks
ReplyDeleteYes
ReplyDeletetight poem - keep 'em coming
ReplyDeletethis is just very, very, very cool sam...love how it develops and wonderful closure...you're just such an artist mister..
ReplyDeleteooh ooh ooh. i love this. that is all :)
ReplyDeleteLoved this. Still, hope my embraces don't cause hurricanes.
ReplyDeleteLove the movement in this, forward and yet in a circle, starting and ending with the Lycaenidae family - the Gossamer-Winged Butterflies - and yet, the randomness of things. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteA lovely coming full circle.
ReplyDeleteI loved the sense of interconnectedness, the fragility of the butterfly, life and love, and the interweaving of all. Like the origami of memories touching in surprising ways.
ReplyDeleteMmm....this is wonderful. I like the tripping from stanza to stanza...
ReplyDeleteI just finished "The Behaviour of Moths"---you might enjoy it.
Very nice. Just a simple thing to begin with, leading eventually to present significance. Enjoyed this!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the progression of thought and emotion, very evocative.
ReplyDeleteHi, have just started writing poetry myself. And as a fellow (ex) physicist I felt sure I would enjoy your writing. As a first taste this was excellent. I look forward to read more of your writing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! A delicate butterfly falling...stirring a hurricane. Isn't that love in its purest form? Wow...you've left me breathless.
ReplyDeleteI love this, that you went this way with the butterfly metaphor, imploring & exploring its effect, and in that, employing it -- marvelous!
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic...I agree with Cindee...a beautiful poem of love.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the amazing comments!
ReplyDelete"Butterfly Effect" is now the opening poem of an ebook containing a collection of love poems (and nothing but love poems), and can be found at this link - "How More Beautiful You Are" - for Amazon Kindle, and Kindle for iOS and Android (you'll need the free Kindle app from the App Store or Google/Android Play Store).
If you've read the ebook, and like it, please leave a comment on the Amazon review page!
Merci beaucoup!
i really like into the butterfly net(i almost typed neck, what does that mean) of my arms
ReplyDeleteInitiated Kiss
reminds me of special topics in calamity physics...!
ReplyDelete