BUTTERFLIES

Butterflies flit.
     Butterflies fly

Light as a whisper
     in the blue sky.

Perched on a daffodil
     drinking the dew.

I wish I was a butterfly.
     How about you?



     On a recent walk through the woods with a friend, we came to a fork in our path.
     "Which way shall we go?" he asked.
      Suddenly there appeared before us a blue swallowtail butterfly.
      "Let's follow the butterfly."  And that is what we did.  All along the path the butterfly would dart ahead and then come back to check on us, just like it was encouraging us to hurry up.  The butterfly made our walk magical.  It was a very good walk.  As soon as we got back to our start point, the butterfly flew up into the sky and disappeared.  Do you ever take walks that become magical?  Can you write a poem today about a walk?  What did you see?
Have fun writing your poem.

senryu

sunshine on my back
and on the butterfly wings
at rest on lantana

flitter and flutter
his wings and my heart 
enjoy a warm glow


   As our weather starts to get colder, we have more butterflies stopping by our flowers.  They are mostly Monarchs on their southerly migration.  Time yourself for a minute.  In that time how many different kinds of butterflies can you name?  Now pick one to write your own poem.  Have fun writing.

"Why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world."  Mary Oliver

   Today is Friday, just in time for the Poetry Friday Roundup.  You can find more links to children's poetry and children's poets on Buffy Silverman's blog here.  

   Thanks, Buffy for hosting us today. 

BUTTERFLY WALK

Joy Acey 2015

Today I took a walk
with a butterfly
and every step I took
it would flutter by.

Glad for the company
as I walked along the road.
That butterfly, he helped me,
by lightening my load.

    I don't know why, but watching nature always makes me feel happy, fanciful.  It lightens my spirit.  Is there something in your life that always makes you feel good?  Can you try writing a poem today bout things that make you happy?  Have fun writing.

Today I'll keep a smile on my face, because the world is a marvellous place.

LOVE POEM

I don't know why
a caterpillar turns
into a butterfly.

Or why the black comma
of a polliwog
turns into a frog.

All I know
is beauty can come, unexpectedly,
from the most unusual places
like love.

Which is why
I'm writing
this poem
for you. 

   I don't know why, but love poems are hard for me to write.  If I set out to write one, I always feel like I'm blocked.  So many poems have been written about love, that it is hard for me to find something new to write about, or maybe it is just hard for me to expose my feelings.  I don't know.  All I know is when poetry contests have a category for "love poems," I always pass and skip to the next category.  Your poetry challenge for today is to write a poem about all the things you love.  I doesn't have to rhyme.  Try to use all of your senses in the list.  Do you like school, or summer vacation?  What is about vacation that you love?  Have fun making your list.  If you'd like to share, leave your list in the comments below.  Just remember this is a site intended for children and I will censor anything I deem inappropriate for children under 13 years of age.

Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better.  Robert Frost, "Birches," 1916.

NATURE'S CELEBRATION

All day long
I've watched the weather change.
The clouds came up
then they rearranged.

The sun is gone.
The wind is blowing.
The birds are out,
with feathers glowing.

An orange oriole
flashes across the sky.
In the citrus tree
flits a butterfly.

Soon it may rain,
I'll wait to see.
This wonderful show
has all been free.

   I hope you have lots of green to look at today.  And to wonder about.  Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Can you include something green in the poem you write today?  Have fun.

haiku

warm desert sunshine
on the fence a butterfly
my heart a flutter

    It is a beautiful day today.  The birds are having a gathering at my feeder.  The wind has settled to a gentle breeze.  I'm thankful for this day and thankful you have stopped by to read my poem.  Can you write your own haiku today?  Have fun writing.

ANOTHER WISH

I wish I were a butterfly
a flitting through the sky,
then I would come to visit you
and make your dreams come true.

     Hey, I've changed the rhyming pattern.  This quatrain verse is written in couplets.  I hope you are having a great Sunday.  Can you find time to write a couplet today?  How about something with wishes or dreams?  Think big and have fun writing.  Happy poetry.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN

 Inside the butterfly garden
the butterflies are all astir.

 Their wings, they are flapping,
flying in a whir.

 Yellow, orange and blue ones,
dancing all about.

 Careful when you exit.
Do not let them out.

 Watch them stop to rest,
dull underside of wing.

 Filled with graceful magic

the butterfly garden brings.


   Have you ever hatched a butterfly?  Have you watched one fly?  Have you visited a butterfly garden? 
Can you write your own butterfly poem today?   

Butterfly

Let me rest a moment

upon this green leaf

before I flit away

Being a butterfly

means enjoying

the jungle

before I fly away.

     This butterfly is another Peru picture.  This is a persona poem written from the view of the butterfly.  can you try writing a persona poem today.  If you are stumped for whose point of view to write from, close your eyes and then open them.  What do you see?  Think small.  Write from the view point of what you see.  For instance, when I open my eyes, the television is in front of me.  But if I think small,I see the off-on button on the television.  How do you think that button feels with people all the time turning it, pushing it? Do you think the button would be boastful about all the people who push his buttons?  Would it laugh and giggle from being tickled?  Would it whine and complain? Have fun writing.

Morning After

In the dark of night

under mosquito netting

in my jungle bed

I hear soft thuds and thumps

of flying things

in my room.

I close my eyes

and sleep.

In the morning

a man comes

to clean my room

tuck up the netting 

and sweep.

In his dust pile

I find the wings

of a green-banded Urania.

So much beauty

should not be

swept aside.

I ask if I may keep 

the butterfly.

    This is not the first time  I have searched the morning sweepings for colorful specimens.  I had a good selection of pink months one summer when I attended a writers retreat at Wild Acres in North Carolina.  Isn't the iridescent blue and the green bands pretty?  What other things can you think of that are blue?  Try writing a blue poem today.  Oh, I'm getting hungry for blueberry pie just thinking of blue.  Have fun.

Happy Marigold

                Desert marigold

          yellow and bright

          hosted a butterfly

          who paused in flight.

           When the butterfly

           flew out of sight

           I gave thanks

           for this morning's delight.


     Just looking at a butterfly makes me happy.  What beautiful, delicate creatures!  Butterflies belong to the Lepidoptera order, which means they have four scaled wings--but you'd need a magnifying glass to see the scales.  I think this butterfly is a hairstreak, probably the very common Gray Hairstreak, part of the gossamer-wing family, which can be seen in southern Arizona year round.
     If you were a butterfly, you'd always be smiling.  What colors would you be?  Where would you travel?  Can you write a poem today from the view point of a butterfly?  This is called a persona poem.  You take on the personality, or become the person (the butterfly) of the poem.  Think about the four stages of your life--eggs, emergent larva or caterpillar, cocoon, and winged butterfly.  Have fun writing and share your creations.