You spent years underground,
a larva, your skin brittle
and papery, vulnerable
you built your cocoon in darkness
as black as your carapace.
I found you that day,
a jet flash in the May sun
basking in the heat
of urban concrete.
I admired your gloss
and spectacular size,
a stag among beetles
ready to lock antler-like jaws
in a bristling wrestle for a mate.
It was late for a child of eight;
but I still got a glimpse
of chestnut wings as they spread
and you flew into the London sunset.
Kim M. Russell, 26th May 2018
My poem for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Weekend Mini Challenge: Insects and Bugs Also linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry
This weekend I’m hosting the Weekend Mini Challenge and we’re writing about insects and bugs, which I find fascinating and exquisitely beautiful. My poem is based on a childhood discovery in our ground floor balcony on a South London estate.
What a wonderfully hopeful view of the larvae and carapaces! I do love a beetle, and I love this poem.
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Thank you, Kerry!
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Luv the wonder and the awe in this transition of light and darkness
Much love…
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Thank you, Gillena. Much love to you!
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A lovely little ditty, Kim. I like the picture also, I didn’t know the beetles fought each other. The crowd is at the bottom licking their wounds. I don’t remember a bug of any type bothering us in London. We probably spent eight months, could be more, there visiting our daughter and her family.
..
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Thank you, Jim.
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Wow – these beetles, the stag beetles, actually look very unearthly – almost like cyborgs!
Anyhow, this is curious prompt (lots of fun and inspiration to be found and discovered – thanks for hosting btw.) – and I really like how you’ve captured that sudden “flash in the eye” wonder of the discovery – and translated the curiosity …. the use of the word “jet” is so apropos – not only for the colour, but they have that from weirdness which makes one wonder, these came from here? the disbelief …. and it speaks of heaven and earth.
fun and fascinating poem Kim 🙂
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Thank you, Pat. I haven’t seen a stag beetle for years and live in hope that the warmth we’re expecting this weekend will bring them out.
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I love the childlike amazement in this. Stag beetles are truly amazing in their might and ferocity. Not like cyborgs but the things upon which aliens and cyborgs were created. And yet, that flash of chestnut wings…I love that. A wondrous magical image.
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Thank you, Toni! I’m looking forward to a menagerie of bugs in the garden this year, hopefully with stag beetles.
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I love how children recognize these wonders as the miracles they are.
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It’s refreshing and a privilege to see things through a child’s eyes – we forget we once had them!
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kaykuala
of chestnut wings as they spread
and you flew into the London sunset
Thus begin a journey in the mysteries of the insect world! Great word-craft Kim!
Hank
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Thank you, Hank!
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I’ll never look at a stag beetle the same way again…especially as K.Russell has penned such a lovely poem in its name!
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🙂
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A fine encounter here — what child hasn’t stooped to observe a bug in wonder? And what imaginariums they carry in their wings. Great response to the prompt!
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Thank you, Brendan!
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This is so good to see the stag beetle through the eyes of a boy being taught a life’s lessson by an insect!
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Thank you, Robin! (It’s through the eyes of a girl – a much younger me! )
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This is absolutely mesmerizing! 💜 Stag beetles are truly amazing 😊
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Thank you, Sanaa! 🙂
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I love this childhood recollection. And I really enjoyed experiencing it through an eight-year-old’s eyes! I don’t think I have ever seen a stag beetle myself.
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Thank you, Mary! We get them mostly in the south-east of the UK. I used to see them a lot where I grew up in South London and they can be found here in East Anglia.
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Youngsters are almost always more fascinated. These days, more than half a century later, they’re mostly just background for me…sometimes merely an annoyance. Ah, well; you did a GREAT job of reminding me. Thanks!
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Ron!
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Wow. And you never forgot that moment.
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I’ll be on the look-out for more!
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I have never seen a stag beetle (didn’t even know the name in English) but every time I’ve ever seen any big beetle it has been a magnificent experience… As a matter of fact I helped some bottle green metallic bug out of our house….
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I like the sound of the bottle green metallic bug, Bjorn – did you get a photo?
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Wow- What an impressive insect, with impressive words to go along.
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Thank you, Linda!
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A wonderful write!!!
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Thank you, Annell!
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Quite an impressive insect to encounter, and your poem described it perfectly!
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Thank you, Donna! It took a while to find a video to illustrate it properly.
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My favorite cartoons were about bugs, The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee. Your poem reminds me of how real their lives (and problems) felt.
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I can’t remember any cartoons about bugs. I’m glad my poem jogged your memory, Magaly.
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❤
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Beautifully drawn and imbued with a lovely sense of fascination.
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Thank you, Wendy.
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What a wonderful poem came out of your childhood memories. I love the last two lines .
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Thank you, Debi!
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What an excellent capture of how we can coexist “basking in the heat/of urban concrete” —
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Thank you, Shannon!
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What an unforgettable encounter!
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I’m hoping for another!
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What child could leave such miraculous witness without seeing it through to the end? Wise child. Very neat poem!
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Thank you, Susan!
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Never seen those before.. look menacing…
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They do, but the antlers are actually mandibles and their nip isn’t as bad as it looks!
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A magical moment wonderfully recaptured.
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Thank you, Rosemary.
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