the ocean always dreamed blue dreams

"it's" in stanza2 should not have an apostrophe

The concluding couplet is pure Qimissungence. I love it, love also the quiet, orderly observations that lead up to it. You seem to me always to speak out of a heart that is at once intelligent and amazed to be alive.

So good to see you around and writing qimi. This is beautiful, as all your poems are, adept and intriguing. This one also seems a little barbed, quietly, with those 'disparate prickly hearts'. Nicely done. I could quote every line of this poem, but somehow these lines stood out particularly:

the angularity of it's barbed spikes
at ironic odds with
its round segmented body,

Peacocks are indiginous to the UK. We get them in our garden. They are also beautiful, and part of the reason why I do not pull up nettles from my garden as they lay their eggs there, as does the Tortoiseshell. You need a picture to go with your poem. My husband took this one when we went to Muncaster castle. It's a bit dark.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/DSCF2542.jpg

I too love the adeptness of your poetry, the unhurried pace, the turned phrase that looks with a fresh eye. I think you've really grown as a poet. I giggles at "Such hubris from such a little worm."

And I thought highly of this stanza:

From the center of which,
gleaming blackly,
the angularity of it's barbed spikes
at ironic odds with
its round segmented body,
embellished with snowy flakes,
the caterpillar appeared to study her

It kind of reminds me of Marianne Moore. Ever read her poetry?

Thank you, Virgil. Yes, I have. She's very good.

This is a great poem, qim. I love work which elegently encapsulates elements of nature which this certainly does. Interestingly the juxtaposition with the nun echoes a film I made when in college, but my insects were bees.

In my old house, I too, had a patch of ancestral nettles, guarded by brambles, for butterfly habitat. Above them, Budlias and Eldar provided nectar for the mature butterflies. I had Peacocks, Red Admirals and Tortoishells, all of which would hibernate in corners of the house.

The only improvement I might suggest would be to avoid the repetition of such in l1 of s4. e.g. "Such hubris from so small a worm,"

Anyway, it's a great pleasure to read you again. Regards, H

I always enjoy reading your work, qimissung. This one, because it deals with such a specific observation of such a specific little bug made me extra interested. I loved the playfulness of the line "the quintessence of repugnance".