Peggy Norbert Nature Museum 1~4~19

On a frigid January morning, Poems While You Wait had the privilege of writing poems in the Butterfly Garden at the Peggy Norbert Nature Museum.

I’ve always loved the Butterfly Garden so I jumped at the chance to write poems within. And my skin could certainly use the humidity. It made me think that biome experiences could be a thing if someone wanted to make that happen.

Poets! Danielle, Kathleen, Eric, and myself! These are my people.

Face to face events are nice. Here’s to a hopeful future full of more personal interaction.

Papillon ~ Mariposa ~ Butterfly ~ all these words are beautiful

I like this poem despite its familiar end. I had to write a poem about my butterfly shirt cuz, yknow.

I dunno this little one’s scientific name but I’m sure that it’s Latin and obtuse (unless you know Latin)

The most popular poem request was, of course, butterflies. Whenever we get an abundance of one topic at PWYW I always try to approach it from different angles.

Whenever there’s a lot of kids at PWYW I always make a more concerted effort to rhyme. It’s not that kids aren’t into free verse, it’s just that kids don’t deal well with their expectations of what a poem is being deconstructed. Trying to avoid tantrums!

A pergola to write home about

Wow - look at all these parents desperately trying to entertain their children on a Saturday morning. To be fair, a lot of the kids were really respectful.

Cue “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” by Rod Stewart

When we write for free we institute a “one poem per family” rule. This creates some interesting mashups. The rule exists mostly to protect the value of the poem itself - by rationing the poems forces the audience to consider the end result a bit more.