(In one of our regular Creekside Poets gatherings, i.e., on Earth Day! … upon prompting from our leader, the amazing Sylvia Manning, I wrote a little “impromptu”-poem about Earth Day being an extra special day for me. April 22nd is both Earth Day and the birthday of my deceased brother Lawrence “Larry” Martin, or as some called him in the San Antonio area, “the amazing Mr. Martin”. [Lawrence Alton was born in Nixon, Texas, the second of six siblings to Louise & Alton Martin, a little more than a year after me.]
[ https://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2020/04/21/my-memories-of-the-amazing-educator-lawrence-alton-martin-april-22-1948-january-28-2020/ ]
That Earth Day of the Creekside Poets gathering on the second floor of the beuatiful Seguin Public Library, I quickly scratched the poem out on an already-used sheet of paper … all I had that day … and now have misplaced it and perhaps inadvertently tossed it in the trash?
The sweet poem below is a response to my poem about my brother Lawrence Alton Martin, from the kind heart of a Creekside Poet colleague, who is a much, much better poet than I.)
a ti Pablo
by Janis Head
Earth Day,
Larry’s day
……………..
Larry,
Lawrence,
your brother’s birthday
…………….
you shared with us
on Earth Day
not here with you,
yet here with us
……………….
as you read your poem
about Larry
he came to life for us,
within us
and became a part of us
as he took flight among us
on the wings
of your butterfly cinquain
………………
So that now,
I, too, will remember
that Earth Day
is also
Larry’s birthday
…………………….
Is this what is known
as the “Butterfly Effect
