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 NewsApril 28, 2026A May Day Push to ‘Shut It Down’ Takes Shape Across the Country
-
Latest NewsApril 24, 2026A Grieving Afghan Man Says He Tried to Get Medical Care for His Brother Who Died in ICE Custody
-
The SlickApril 29, 2026With Promises of Money, Controversial Gas Pipeline on Navajo Nation Passes First Hurdle
-
Deadly Dust: The Silicosis EpidemicMay 6, 2026California Could Be the First State to Ban Quartz Countertops
-
Latest NewsApril 27, 2026As the U.S. Spends Billions Fighting Iran, War-Driven Inflation Hits Working Families Hard
-
Column - State of InequalityApril 23, 2026An Historic Strike in Southeast L.A. County Highlights Pressures Facing California Schools
-
Latest NewsMay 1, 2026In One of L.A.’s Food Deserts, ‘Hands That Harmed Are Now Hands That Heal’
-
Column - State of InequalityApril 30, 2026Don’t Call It Upward Mobility If People Still Can’t Afford to Live