32 Comments
User's avatar
House of Neglected Poetry's avatar

This made me think that Alice in Wonderland should have had a scene where an inch worm and a silk worm were suit tailors.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

What a lovely idea.

Expand full comment
A. Christine Myers's avatar

Just wonderful, and obviously many of us delight in inchworms! :) I actually wrote a sonnet to one myself once in a time. Such personable little creatures!

Expand full comment
A. Christine Myers's avatar

Here's that sonnet:

~~~~"

I find an inchworm on my shirt at last,

Parading up the stripes from blue to white

To blue. She rules the inches wriggling past

With head exploring windward. Treading light

Upon my shirtfront she propounds, polite,

My need for newer garments. Heartened, I

Am happy she shall take my measure--quite!

An opportunity I’d not deny,

She stands upon her back toes to descry

At distance and so checks me out,

Then arcs herself into a loop quite spry.

I need new shirts; of that she has no doubt,

Nor I. I thank her for her work; she rides--

My tiny ruler--on my shirt outside.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Oh Amy, that is just so charming and endlessly fun. Put that one on Substack proper for all the others to see. Thank you. Laurie and I leave Strasbourg tomorrow for a train to Lille, in northern France, very near the Belgium border. In that next apartment waits my next and I hope, my last proofreading copy of "Ode to a Carpenter".

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Thank you Amy, they certainly are.

Expand full comment
Stanley Wotring's avatar

A measured poem.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

That's a good one, Stan. I was conflicted, being in France I thought maybe I should call it the 2.54 centimeter worm but it loses something....

Expand full comment
Jonathan Foster's avatar

Job security. Brilliant.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

One of your gentlest odes, Wes.

I have a weakness for them too.

The least wormy of the worms! 🐛 So humble, and always looked like they were dressed for church..

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

I particularly love it when they sway looking for the next purchase.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

I know, right - hopeful and determined at the same time.

(Role models, yes?)

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

They are to me and squirrels and pretty much every bird I ever met and same with dogs. So let’s face it, most critters.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

Yep

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

After publishing two harsh poems, I needed this for an antidote, balance.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

We all do. It helped. So much.

Expand full comment
Marilyn Peterlin's avatar

YES they are truly marvelous!

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Thank you Marilyn.

Expand full comment
David Donoghue's avatar

Quite an exotic creature for me, never seen one in the real life.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

They are really cool little guys.

Expand full comment
Ann Collins's avatar

Delightful! 💚

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Thank you Ann. It was in this same vein/tone that I wrote about a rose. Here's the link. https://westonpparker.substack.com/p/rose-of-all-roses

Expand full comment
Ann Collins's avatar

Wow, Weston. This is prescription-strength Beauty. Every word, every line. You nailed it.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

When we visited the same town, L'sle sur la Sorgue again this year for another month long stay, I went to pay my respects to her and her friends every day I could. It was a wonderful reunion.

Expand full comment
Ann Collins's avatar

The small seasons are always teaching me about faithfulness. The way plants, flowers, and all kinds of lifeforms return and return every year.

Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Yes, it's like relearning something we knew very well, long before we became "civilized".

Expand full comment
Ann Collins's avatar

Yes, there’s still a plumb line in us that recognizes ancient truths. If we listen carefully.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
May 25, 2024
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Thank you

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
May 24, 2024
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Weston Parker's avatar

Thanks Cheryl, I was trying to capture their own charm in this.

Expand full comment