the caterpillar stage of the catalpa sphinx moth
feeds on green catalpa tree leaves in the human
being the formative stage of fulfillment feeds on green
feelings I think death I also think
is simply another stage of crawling
we typically feel time I think
as a tree feels time dirt and seasons simply
lived with like reasons I could grow out of it
but for now as I understand it catalpa trees evolved
to endure a moth’s freaky beginning
I once saw them caterpillars falling
from a catalpa tree as the luxurious leaves gave way
green eating green all the way down
the tree limbs lay bare for they had borne
the process it’s a fact
not unlike the fact that the world is not mine
to change or explain
noble to think otherwise I thought until
I felt the telling crunch of leaves playing
dead beneath my feet that sound
a change a hope gnawing
on the limbs I hear high above this earth
sap purling to nub over
every place where the fluttering goes
