Lee Woodman’s most recent poem to appear here was “Vanquor” (June 2018). 

One Touched Me on the Shoulder
BY Lee Woodman

She landed softly and fluttered twice;
I sensed I should not turn my head.

After all, when you enter a butterfly garden,
shouldn’t you be shy as a geisha?

Keep your head turned left and down.
Float along the greenery,

carrying the white-winged one with opaque dots,
until you reach

an open pineapple where ants crawl.
There, a second bewinged beauty alights.

This one a marigold-orange,
framed with lace and black velvet fringe.

Will Cabbage White and Painted Lady
nod to each other as I pass?

I think not, because as I pivot to the right,
whiteness grazes my neck.

A fierce competitor, she lifts aloft.