Poem: Metamorphosis Examined

written for a friend going through a rough patch

Metamorphosis Examined
for KF

The very concept so overworked,

 it is beyond cliché-
    “I am caterpillar awakening to my butterfly” as if

it were

something we can choose,

that breathlessly happens the moment
         we decide we have arrived

 at the perfect mindset.
“You can do anything you set your mind to”

 glibly proclaimed as mantra to
    those who struggle,

by idiots who do not understand metamorphosis at all.

Shall we delve?

Caterpillar born, creature of ravenous hunger-

consumes all in its path, devouring-
     unslakeable appetite-

 one day, stops abruptly;

        ten feet searching shelter
 suspends itself tenuously via silken thread, to build-
      protective chitonous hard shell

            around its form
keeping the known world at bay.

To transform, shell becomes Vessel,

        as the body liquifies
   dissolved by juices of its own insatiable hunger
reduction to primordial soup-

a stew whose ingredients-
      leucine, ATP, deoxyribose, base pairs-

are all that remains
of caterpillar essence,

         caterpillar memory, caterpillar Self.

Identity suspended in cellular programming- all else lost.

Solely imaginal bud is intact,

   and directs, via hand and force unknown
    the reprogramming of the entity, “histogenesis”
Reconstruction of Soup. Out of Chaos-
   Order Lepidoptera.

Liquid remade- literally- to visceral form,
as heart, lungs, vessels, eyes-

       must learn anew to exist.

The caterpillar gives painful birth to itself from within-
    Four legs are lost,

   consumption drive gives way
to drive for creation, eternity, ad legacy.
   Now more-than-caterpillar,

 remade-into what we, in ignorance,
call “Butterfly”, and

     ironically, label "delicate".

The journey is still not yet complete.

This new creature struggles

    to survive emergence
      breaking down its own protective fortress,

chrysalis outgrown
to come forth naked and wet,

     vulnerable and weak,
  as a babe newly born.

An exhausted terrestrial creature

      that now must 

learn to navigate by air.

No familiar territory remaining

     in this world.
 
My God. The metaphor is perfectly apt,

    perhaps a little too much so-
   which is why, I think, if we pondered the truth
of what it takes, really takes- to get there-
      We would never ask for it

 of our own accord. It must be directed-
or we’d never have the courage

 to spin that first silken thread,

      knowing.

Let the fools who don’t know better, believe otherwise.











 

Reviews

[:)]

I love how your intelligence is directly seen in here. This is a wonderful metaphor for the things people say without thinking. Its easy to talk without stepping in the shoes of someone else. It's easy to talk when we don't know where life is headed....I wish I could critique something but I feel like on this I can''t..:)

Ahh I love biology this is sooo good :)

[Through the Gateway]

This gives me a sense of hope. We all must transform at some point, but without the unseen hand, we remain either ravenous larvae, or go into our shells and never emerge as new creatures.

This is beautiful, and gets more beautiful each time I read it. KF is a lucky person to have such a wise and loving friend who understands.

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

That was amazingly brilliant. Loved your wording, your structure, and the confidence in your craft that you display here. You must have been doing this for years because this is the poem of a seasoned poet; the deconstruction of the "Metamorphosis" as an archetype is fresh; I loved it. Very nice job!