I’m not as beautiful
my shape destroyed
my color ordinary

a dangerous thought, she thought

who was she to complain
or compare
or even concern herself

her tiny orange and yellow blooms
while not roses
fed caterpillars
while not azaleas
sheltered cocoons
while not hibiscus
bred butterflies

in these thoughts
she remembered all her glorious purpose

* A couple of years ago I planted a milkweed plant. I was not super impressed with her gangly stems nor her lack of leaves…but the garden store employee promised me she’d be amazing given some time and TLC. Within days of planting, she was covered in caterpillars…of all sizes…some super tiny and others huge. They ate every bit of her greenery down to her stalks. If she appeared thin before, she was now downright skeletal. But then this amazing thing did happen…the caterpillars got bigger and cocoons started showing up in all kinds of places…and then butterflies…everywhere! But the best part? That milkweed seemingly grew new leaves overnight…and the cycle repeats over and over. She’s definitely my favorite of all my plants.

© 2014-2020 – Donna Matthews

The above was in response to the weekly writing challenge held here at the cafe each Tuesday. This week we were given the words, “dangerous thoughts” to write a poem or piece of prose. I choose free verse poetry as my genre.

Hey y’all, thanks for visiting the Go Dog Go Cafe and I hope you enjoyed reading today’s selection. I am Donna Matthews, a born and bred Texan who can usually be found writing, painting, taking pictures, or traveling the world on foot. I’m all about love, people, sharing, and doing life together and would love to get to know you. I host two blogs…the first, The DJ Ranch, documents my personal adventures while the second, Slay The Chaos, focuses on mindsets, technology, productivity and organization. Come on over for a visit sometime 💙