BUTTERFLY EFFECT
This one from the milkweed growing against
all odds on the edge of my driveway or
one of those rescued from a predator
in Polly’s patch. Remember the story
that one might change the weather of the world?
Maybe not the movement of its wings.
Maybe just the vision: that brave orange
and black animal, fragile against a leaf,
blown across the sky, what it’s like to change
that way, and who knows who, seeing it, will change?
GladErrand 
I tried replying “Moving in so many layers” but I had to log in and that’s impossible!
Ray
I’ve been fostering five monarchs, and two of them fledged today. There’s nothing quite like thinking about that transformation. Barbara Daniels wrote a truly wonderful poem about that. I can’t remember where I first read it, or even the name of it. I’ve looked online and can’t find it. The last lines:
Are you sure you want to be changed?
An ear stuck to your back or eye sprouting on your sweaty palm, your face stripped away? Your body’s fluids effervescent, your arms transformed into terrible wings.
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Beautiful words. Beautiful photo. Beautiful you.
And yet, for all its color and wonder and perseverance, it faces oblivion at the hands of those who God, in his wisdom, chose to give dominion over all creatures.
Katie and I plan to go to California in December and visit a place where monarchs congregate during their migration. Hoping for a good showing!