Even flying down a five and a half foot 4 by 4 post and a Stafford Poetry Box couldn’t outshine the emergence of a Monarch Butterfly in Jody’s front yard. Beautifully crafted of Western Red Cedar the Poetry Box stood neglected as neighbor after neighbor stepped past the Kangaroo Paw and Gazania to see the veined bronze wings. Wings still awaiting their first unfolding. Motionless under the queue of eyes with one foot still in her chrysalis. Long after she has flown to Canada while her great granddaughters winter in the Oyamel trees of Michoacán the Poetry Box will stand in its over 100 pounds of concrete attempting to illicit the same sense of awe and wonder butterflies create without even flapping their wings.

Much thanks to proud curators Jody and Phil, their cat Harriett (who oversaw the installation), my brother Steven for the use of his shovel and pickaxe, my parents Tom and Margaret for tools, accomodations and wonderful meals, Economy Lumber (aka Piedmont Lumber) for the concrete, Mario the gardener, the mail carrier, and the neighbors galore who took time to experience wonder at nature and then for a moment to admire the craftsmanship I flew down to place in the neighborhood of my childhood, the Rockridge neighborhood in Oakland, California.