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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Para-Morph

To Serve
by Brooke Shaden


Para-Morph

There exist diamonds among butterflies,
colorless morphs with gossamer wings.

They cling like death to trees
born to fear the blustering winds;
their delicacy easily tossed-n-torn.

Vigilant, they wait for life giving forces
  weighed down in hues of blue
    overflowing in shades of orange
  steaming in tints of red
    steeped in blushes of purple
to connect their symbiotic chord to.

Emotions flow as colored ink
releasing heavy/bursting hearts
as the butterflies find their wings.

On the winds dance colorful morphs,
shimmering jewels with brilliant-cut wings.



Inspiration for this piece:  For Poetics this week,  dVerse Poets Pub is exploring the "Passion of Brooke Shanden," a fine art photographer who doesn't mind getting in front of the camera.  It was not easy to select one image...for I was drawn to many, but in the end I did manage to find one to focus on.  (You can see more of her work through her gallery or her blog.)   

While the image present here as a heavyhearted feel to it, which I think fits well with the color choice of blue.  Originally my thought was to focus on the sadness...the butterfly pulling the sadness away both helping the individual by lightening their load and the butterfly by weighing it down (and adding color).  As I came to that portion of the poem, I felt an itch to move beyond just a single emotion.  I imaged similar images of joyous (orange) individuals twirling with butterflies attached and angry (red) fuming individuals and passionate (purple) individuals....  Any emotion can go overboard and take us too far away from the world and from ourselves; it seemed like the butterflies could help with stealing a bit more than just blues.

On a side note:  Not 100% sold on the title...



19 comments:

Victoria said...

Quite beautiful. You took the photo and soared with it.

Jennifer Wagner said...

I really like those first two stanzas and your close. I like the title too :)

Brian Miller said...

smiles...it is a cool thought, they stealing a bit more than the blues...and perhaps taking some of the other emotions as well...

Grace said...

A very unique title, smiles ~ I admire the imagery of butterflies, awaiting to connect their symbiotic chord to. I thought the use of colors was also symbolic of wings of change ~ Thanks for linking up ~

Anonymous said...

I liked how the "there exist" at the beginning put me in the mind of a mathematical proof or truth.

Mary said...

Really like the imagery in your poem...and indeed there are diamonds among butterflies. And, oh, those shimmering jewels! Beautiful writing here.

Gabriella said...

I like where you took us with the images in your poem, rmp. 'Emotions flow as colored ink
releasing heavy/bursting hearts
as the butterflies find their wings.' - these are my favorite lines. Emotions can indeed fly like butterflies finding their wings.

Glenn Buttkus said...

a very creative take on the Artwork prompt; the concept that butterflies, like spirit guides, can lighten one's load, is beautiful, & it is cool that you expanded this concept to include the light spectrum & other emotions.

Claudia said...

beautiful metaphor... and when those emotions find their way on the butterflies wings, what a joy and dance indeed

brudberg said...

Just to use diamonds and butterflies together is so great.. the hardness vs softness contrast works for me. And this make sense to me also as a metaphor... (and by the way the title is great)..

Unknown said...

beautiful butterfly metaphor + lines like, "cling like death to trees"
makes for a great contrast in imagery... great write! :)

Vandana Sharma said...

Had a very peaceful feeling after reading this:)

Anonymous said...

very elegant poem for a beautiful picture

Kathy Reed said...

I love the shimmering images you evoke ....like a fairy tale...quite the contrast and a lovely tribute to the butterfly!

Vb holmes said...

Aside from the metaphor, this is a beautiful capture of the glorious montage seen in late summer when the butterflies congregate around the buddleias in the garden. Sensual descriptions.

Jeff said...

Lovely poem--those last two lines are perfect in image and feeling. Nicely done!

Anonymous said...

Ah, metamorphosis. How many butterflies would there be if they were afraid being shattered by change.

This is a beautiful piece. :-)

humbird said...

Wonderful...~ Thanks for stopping by :)x

Bodhirose said...

I like the idea of the butterflies serving our higher self by taking some excess emotion from us. A unique perspective on the image you chose...I like!