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Butterfly Poem & This is Buggy

Butter, Flutter, Gutter

poem by Jenifer Tull-Gauger

A flash – yellow as butter,

The butterfly flips its wings

And takes on the air with a flutter.

Swoosh – suddenly a car sweeps by

And smacks into the butterfly.

It’s now a sallow speck in the gutter.

dead butterfly

The above poem was inspired when I noticed a small, yellow, dead butterfly in the gutter by a busy street. I imagined that it had gracefully flitted about as butterflies do, then got hit by a car. That was the true inspiration for this poem. When I decided to share it, I wondered if I should put a disclaimer first, about it not having a happy ending.

But then I remembered one of our young karate students sharing the Buggy hand trick with me. Such a memorable little ditty, “This is Buggy. Buggy says, ‘Hi.’ This is Buggy when a car goes by.” Here’s a girl showing the trick on video. (You can’t fully appreciate it without the live action.) Kids, at least when it comes to bugs such as Buggy and butterflies, seem to acknowledge and accept death and even make jokes about it. If you want an alternative, this poem of mine has a happier ending.

-Jenifer Tull-Gauger

Jenifer Tull-Gauger Kyoshi

Children's picture book author/illustrator. Traditional karate teacher and practitioner. Loves drawing and all kinds of art. Also into animals, plants and Mother Nature.

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