THE INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL




   

 
Judy Neri



BROOKSIDE GARDENS: BUTTERFLY THOUGHTS

At the garden's butterfly show, a paisley beauty
came to rest on my shoulders, folding and opening
dainty wings. I pretended to be a tree
or a rock and it stayed a while, clinging
to my shirt, taking my measure, testing whether
admiration meant respect or a cagy tether.

We animals seem to be weaving ourselves
into each others' lives, like children at camp
who tiptoe in search of marshmallows
over the sleeping bags of others. Not that the lamb
is safe with the lion, or with us, but deer amble
into our yards to graze, foxes scramble

from their forest homes, forced to vacate
by developers, and skulk by manmade ponds.
Crows grumble and squawk on our porches, berate
us in chorus with a hodgepodge of fellow vagabonds.
Soon, I expect, parrots and birds of paradise
will tap at my back door, with hungry eyes.





Judy Neri
Judy Neri has placed in The Formalist and Passager contests and had poems in The Classical Outlook, The Lyric, Poet Lore, Potomac Review, and other journals and anthologies. She is seeking a publisher for her first book. She serves as Codirector of Cafe Muse, a literary reading series sponsored by The Word Works Press, which takes place monthly in Chevy Chase, Maryland.




                                    

 

Home
Current Issue
Submissions
Contributors' Notes



Carol Ashworth

E. Louise Beach

Sandra Beasley

Anne Becker

Mel Belin

Rick Cannon

Nancy Naomi Carlson

Norma Chapman

Christopher Conlon

Michael Davis

Martin Dickinson

Jehanne Dubrow

Moira Egan

Sean Enright

Perry Epes

Lillian Frankel

Martin Galvin

Rachel Galvin

Bernadette Geyer

Patricia Gray

Laurie Hurvitz

Tod Ibrahim

Bernard Jankowski

Lisa Kosow

Michael Lally

Hiram Larew

Michael H. Lythgoe

Ebby Malmgren

Dan Masterson

Ryan McAllister

Judith McCombs

Miles David Moore

Daniel Abdul-Hayy Moore

Heidi Mordhorst

Yvette Neisser

Judy Neri

Bonnie Nevel

Barbara J. Orton

Eric Pankey

Jacklyn Potter

Ellen Sazzman

J.D. Smith

Rose Solari

Alan Spears

Gary Stein

Adele Steiner

Mark Tarallo

Colette Thomas

Doug Wilkinson

Rhonda Williford

Terence Winch

Rosemary Winslow

Kathi Wolfe

Anne Harding Woodworth

Bill Wunder

More

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Email this poem

Printer friendly page

 

 

 

 

 


Last Updated: Sep 16th, 2007 - 08:34:32

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 Cook Communication.