Enduring Transition

Now I’m a chrysalis,
neither caterpillar boy
nor butterfly man.
The big open sky
fell onto my one
earth-born genesis

and I cannot fly,
never bore the genius
nor skill to learn.
And who would welcome
a caterpillar this wide,
with so few leaves between us?

Giant Stare Topography

Munching wild tuber,
the panda is a field
of coal and coconut copra.
My binoculars crack at the yield.

Carl Griffin is from South Wales. His book-length poem, Arrival at Elsewhere, written for charity with the help of one hundred poets, was published by Against the Grain in 2020.