FEATURED POETRY: Butterflies by Alon Garcia

I swore to start loving myself last night
even when I don’t want to
because time and again I am reminded that my body is the only home I’ll have
when everything else has turned into ashes

Caterpillars wrap themselves in their cocoons
much like the way I hide myself away from the world
but what I didn’t know was how they deconstruct their bodies until there is barely anything left
and take all of these parts back together again to create something beautiful

I picked apart my body every night in front of the bathroom mirror
and instead of wanting to put it back together again,
I wanted to throw away the pieces

Caterpillars have their wings inside them from the start
and I’d like to believe that something beautiful is hidden away inside me too
just waiting for the right time to come out
These little creatures transform into something new and all the while
it has the same mind, the same memories, it is still the caterpillar
only now with wings that will let them fly to newer heights

I’m still that little caterpillar
still figuring out how to weave the cocoon that will one day set me free
but I know that somehow we each have that butterfly inside us just waiting
waiting for the day we finally realize that it is there
it is there and it is waiting for us
to let ourselves grow our wings.





(art by Kate Louise Powell)