misguided metaphors

fuzzy yellow caterpillar words
tumble down green leaf pages
groping desperately for the
meaning of brown twig lines
only to land in messy heaps of
fluff and black letter legs at the
bottom.

simile antennae wiggle furiously as
nouns disentangle themselves from
the wreckage of their verbal siblings
then strut around the margin root
arguing about who will show up
first.

proud caterpillar words!

they want so much to please to
climb the brown twig lines and
dance upon the green leaf pages
to wave their black letter legs at
the reader and show their simile
antennae.

hide
hide little caterpillar words
hide inside cocoon meanings
don’t wave your letter legs
don’t show your simile antennae
hide
hide that you might find
inside yourselves
the metaphors of
butterflies.