open sky :: SAMVAAD |12th February
- sanjuktaa
- Feb 12, 2023
- 1 min read
hosts : Sanjuktaa Asopa & Kashiana Singh
monarch butterflies
the september smell
of pencil shavings
---- John Pappas
(The Haiku Foundation, Haiku Dialogue, December 28, 2022)
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I remember i used to collect pencil shavings and stick them up in my scrap book. And then paint figures around them.
I had selected this verse because of its stunning juxt.
Not too many would connect pencil shavings with butterflies. Yet this poem does that so effortlessly.It's such a compelling image that from now on, I'll probably always smell pencil shavings whenever I see monarch butterflies.
And now it's time to hear the poet's story.
John Pappas says: "For me, the poem evokes memories of the beginning of the school year, which for those of us living in the northeast of the United States begins in September. A large patch of milkweed grew on the border of the playground of my elementary school. Monarch butterflies would lay their eggs there, and we would watch as the caterpillars made and then e…
It presents nice images. Pencil shavings in the shape of butterflies. I'm not sure, perhaps school semester starts with September. Everyone can relate to this poem
Nice warm feeling to this one!
love this one!