{"id":6500,"date":"2014-01-28T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6500"},"modified":"2014-01-30T11:10:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-30T16:10:13","slug":"metamorphosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/metamorphosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Metamorphosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Metamorphosis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Metamorphosis<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are LIFE<\/p>\n

I shall dress like a sunbeam.<\/p>\n

If you are DEATH<\/p>\n

I shall grow whispering wings.<\/p>\n

If you are JOY<\/p>\n

I shall fling a scarlet sash around my shoulders.<\/p>\n

If you are PAIN<\/p>\n

I shall wear mud boots.<\/p>\n

If you are HOPE<\/p>\n

I shall light a candle that can\u2019t be extinguished.<\/p>\n

If you are DESPAIR<\/p>\n

I shall don a hat that hides my eyes.<\/p>\n

If you are HAPPINESS<\/p>\n

I shall become the tingling traveling along my spine.<\/p>\n

All these feelings tumble in my kaleidoscope<\/p>\n

giving my dancing shoes no rest.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The Divide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is risk.<\/p>\n

I can stumble even on an uncluttered path.<\/p>\n

In a flood I need a lifeboat,<\/p>\n

and running from a rockslide<\/p>\n

the agility of a mountain goat.<\/p>\n

The line between life and death<\/p>\n

is as precarious as high wire.<\/p>\n

I hope to go to my death<\/p>\n

with eyes wide open,<\/p>\n

soaring as if I were a glider,<\/p>\n

and hovering in the stillness,<\/p>\n

taking in heaven and earth<\/p>\n

one last time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Midwestern Ancestry<\/strong><\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s people are<\/p>\n

hardworking, uncomplaining,<\/p>\n

carving values, setting limits,<\/p>\n

and giving the young<\/p>\n

a foundation solid as a rock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only if the rock is porous,<\/p>\n

has crevices where raindrops gather<\/p>\n

then merge into rivulets of hope,<\/p>\n

allowing algae and moss to find footing,<\/p>\n

and squirrels to bury nuts,<\/p>\n

and birds to spy fallen seeds,<\/p>\n

only then can an airborne plant<\/p>\n

with strange purple blossoms<\/p>\n

and spindly emerald-green stalks<\/p>\n

take root, survive and flourish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stranger in a Newfound Land<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s people are<\/p>\n

hardworking, uncomplaining;<\/p>\n

carving values, setting limits,<\/p>\n

and giving the young<\/p>\n

a foundation solid as a rock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only if the rock is porous,<\/p>\n

has crevices where raindrops gather<\/p>\n

then merge into rivulets of hope,<\/p>\n

allowing algae and moss to find footing,<\/p>\n

and squirrels to bury nuts,<\/p>\n

and birds to spy fallen seeds,<\/p>\n

only then can an airborne plant<\/p>\n

with strange purple blossoms<\/p>\n

and spindly emerald-green stalks<\/p>\n

take root, survive and flourish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GREAT EXPECTATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a new grandson<\/p>\n

Anticipating a birth<\/p>\n

is like days before Christmas<\/p>\n

when our ears burn with curiosity<\/p>\n

and we have owls\u2019 eyes, and we can see in the dark.<\/p>\n

Now your mother\u2019s senses are heightened,<\/p>\n

picking up every gurgle,<\/p>\n

feeling each kick.<\/p>\n

And we wonder<\/p>\n

what will you look like?<\/p>\n

What kind of person will you be?<\/p>\n

Snuggled in your tender womb-place<\/p>\n

as in a cozy nutshell,<\/p>\n

your feet are firmly planted,<\/p>\n

ready to thrust you through the birth canal<\/p>\n

into the arms of a welcoming world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RUNGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The higher a child climbs<\/p>\n

the greater the need for a safety net.<\/p>\n

From tiny feet marks<\/p>\n

to large footprints,<\/p>\n

from breast to bottle,<\/p>\n

preschool tears to college woes,<\/p>\n

the parental umbilicus stretches<\/p>\n

until one day the cord falls away<\/p>\n

and balancing high above, the net ignored,<\/p>\n

the child beams a confident smile<\/p>\n

to the parents who exhale<\/p>\n

with relief and admiration,<\/p>\n

— and a hint of nostalgia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Secret that Only Babies Know<\/strong><\/p>\n

A duckling forms a permanent bond<\/p>\n

with the first object it sees\u2014<\/p>\n

mother duck<\/p>\n

who clucks to it to follow.<\/p>\n

A human mother relishes<\/p>\n

the sweet nectar of her baby,<\/p>\n

its breathing comforts her,<\/p>\n

her hands move tenderly<\/p>\n

all over its tiny body,<\/p>\n

her lullabies are a soothing sleeping potion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But a baby knows best<\/p>\n

the smell of its mother\u2019s skin,<\/p>\n

her morning smell,<\/p>\n

her evening smell,<\/p>\n

her summer smell,<\/p>\n

her winter smell.<\/p>\n

There is no other!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I spool back the years<\/p>\n

and inhale my mother\u2019s scent<\/p>\n

whose fragrance remains<\/p>\n

like a tropical flower\u2019s after nightfall.<\/p>\n

My little hands reach up<\/p>\n

as I bury my nose<\/p>\n

in her neck<\/p>\n

and recall its enchanting aroma<\/p>\n

long after I am back in grown-up time.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

A writer from youth, German-born Ute Carson\u2019s first story was published in 1977. Her story \u201cThe Fall\u201d won the Grand Prize for Prose and was published in the short story and poetry anthology A Walk through My Garden<\/i>, Outrider Press, Chicago 2007. Her novel \u201cColt Tailing\u201d was published in 2004 and was a finalist for the Peter Taylor Book Award Prize for the Novel. Her second novel \u201cIn Transit\u201d was published in 2008. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and magazines here and abroad. Carson\u2019s poetry was featured on the televised Spoken Word Showcase <\/i>2009, 2010 and 2011 Channel Austin, TX. Her poetry collection \u201cJust a Few Feathers\u201d was published in 2011 and her chapbook \u201cFolding Washing\u201d in 2013. Her poem \u201cA Tangled Nest of Moments\u201d won second place in the Eleventh International Poetry Competition 2012. Her website can be found here:\u00a0www.utecarson.com<\/a><\/p>\n

An advanced Certified Clinical hypnotist, Ute Carson resides in Austin, TX with her husband. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, a horse and a number of cats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are LIFE<\/p>\n

I shall dress like a sunbeam.<\/p>\n

If you are DEATH<\/p>\n

I shall grow whispering wings.<\/p>\n

If you are JOY<\/p>\n

I shall fling a scarlet sash around my shoulders.<\/p>\n

If you are PAIN<\/p>\n

I shall wear mud boots.<\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":6727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,219,199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6500"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6731,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500\/revisions\/6731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}