At a recent WFW meeting I gave a writing prompt which was general enough to allow each participant to take it just about anywhere. One of the newer members had difficulties because the prompt was not specific enough for her. She wanted very exact instructions on the subject matter she was to write about. I was reminded of a tightly wrapped rose bud that has the possibility of blooming, of opening up wide, to welcoming in the sunlight. That rose bud needs nurturing before it will bloom.

My schooling and work life were all technical- just the facts, Mam. It took Cancer, The Wellness Community, and that Poetry workshop to open up my own tightly wound up psyche. I wrote a poem about the experience:

                              Metamorphosis

Why was I writing my 1961 thesis on the Antoine Equation when I could have been writing poetry like my 2005, “What is Love”?

Because I didn’t know that this Caterpillar could fly.

Why was I writing a 1975 Patent Application on “Novel Copolymers” when I could have been writing poetry like my 2006, “Why is the Rhyme so Sublime”?

Because I didn’t know that I was trapped in an emotional-block chrysalis for 75 years.

Radiation Treatments have ruptured that hard, confining cocoon.

Out went the cold, analytical, objective writing,

In came the soul-warming, expressive, subjective musings.

The Caterpillar is gone; the Butterfly flexes its wings!