Saturday 5 September 2009

Let Them Eat Leaves

The Hungry Caterpillar

Fourteen days from larvae to caterpillar
Then I ate and I ate 'til I was a fatterpillar
I ate and I ate 'til I began to pupate
Becoming a butterfly would be worth the wait
Not to mention save a fortune in fur and Jimmy Choos
I was ready for my time in the sun, ready to hit the news
But first, I was trapped in a chrysalis!
Waiting for my supermodel miracle catalyst
Suppose my shell refused to shed
Suppose a sparrow ate me for a mcsnack instead
Or I became a mutant ninja caterpillar with a caterpillar track
How could I take the cat(erpillar) walk by storm with that?
Luckily I emerged and my wings unfurled to reveal…a Red Admirable
The Royalty of the flutterby world
So it's rose petal red carpets all the way
Heading the butterfly parade at the break of each day
The sweetest nectar, the most potent pollen
I almost binged 'til I was swollen
Before remembering I was the supermodel of stick-insect kind
And snorting sherbet instead.

©LS King 2009

This was my contribution to an open air reading with Back Room Poets in Oxford's Botanic Gardens today on the theme of The Hungry Caterpillar. As you can see I am a poet in crysalis. Who knows what I will hatch into. If only I hadn't ate all that cake instead of boring leaves...

6 comments:

garfer said...

Do one on the Cabbage White.

Bastards keep eating my cabbages.

How about an Ode to the Aphid?

Steve said...

I'd copyright "McSnack" if I were you... I can Ronald going for that one.

Nota Bene said...

...and a good contribution it is too

Brother Tobias said...

It's a splendid poem. I particularly like 'fatterpillar' and the 'cat (erpillar) walk.

The Sagittarian said...

Loved it, loved it, loved it!
We live next door to a park, each year several of the trees are 'home' to literally hundreds of monarch butterflies. I'd never thought of writing a poem about them tho'.

The Poet Laura-eate said...

Ode to an Aphid coming up Garfer. Actually an Aphid does have a walk on part in one of my poems.

Steve, not an idea I wish to be rememberbed for - I think not. Having said that, I shall probably regret being so dismissive of what might turn out to be my most marketable marketing idea!

Thank you NotaBene. Not one for the epitaph though, I fear.

Praise indeed, coming from you BT - I recall your last creepy crawly ode and had my socks duly knocked off by it!

Thank you, thank you Sagittarian. They just struck me as being the 'royalty' of butterflies somehow. Though doubtless more exotic exist somewhere.