Culture & Media
The Caterpillars
They wake like cosmetic surgery patients.
Memories of crawling vanish
as the sun warms the body
they could not have dreamed of:
Dog Face,
Provence Chalk-Hill Blue,
Great Spangled Fritillary.
When the woman I married woke up
next to the wrong man,
that was my signal
to become inert,
await rebirth.
I want to be great,
spangled,
fritillary.
I want the caterpillar’s gift to the butterfly—
amnesia, and wings.
———————————————
Source: The poem originally appeared in Pearl and was reprinted in Amnesia and Wings, published by Tebot Bach (2013).
Photo: Derek Ramsey
Larry Colker has been co-hosting the weekly Redondo Poets reading at Coffee Cartel in Redondo Beach for more than a decade. His poems have appeared in Spillway, The Sun, The Los Angeles Review, The Cortland Review, Brickbat Review, and Rattle, among other publications. He is originally from West Virginia.
-
Latest NewsSeptember 24, 2025Too Old to Keep Working, Not Enough Money to Stop
-
The SlickSeptember 11, 2025A/C Saves Lives During Heat Waves. Will Los Angeles Require It for Rentals?
-
Latest NewsSeptember 16, 2025Effort to Curb Southern California Rail Yard Pollution Stalls Under Trump
-
Beyond the BorderSeptember 9, 2025ICE Is Putting Ankle Monitors on People Who Show Up for Immigration Court Hearings
-
Column - California UncoveredSeptember 12, 2025ICE Raids Take Toll on Latino Mental Health: ‘It’s Been Nonstop’
-
The SlickSeptember 15, 2025New Mexico’s Billion-Dollar Oilfield Orphans
-
Column - State of InequalitySeptember 11, 2025Business Groups Failed to Stop L.A.’s ‘Olympic Wage’ Increase. But the Battle’s Not Over.
-
Latest NewsSeptember 17, 2025Trump’s Plan to End Forest Protections Targets a ‘Conservation Success Story’