Another Poem Rejected by the New Yorker.
What is WRONG with them? I didn’t even get a sad-face emoticon. Nothing.
Limericks
Ever write limericks? It’s not literature, for sure. But there was a contest once, so I wrote this.
On Being Challenged to Write a Limerick
My Atalopedes Paper
This paper was rejected by the Lepidopterists Society because I did not make a clear enough distinction between “perching” and “roosting.” The latter involves shade-seeking, while perching means sitting on an elevated leaf or flower and watching for passing insects to harass. Anyway, the point of the paper should be clear. Atalopedes skippers modify their behaviors at high temperatures to avoid overheating. They can’t tolerate temperatures above about 40°C, so if the Texas thorn-scrub savanna warms beyond that, they’ll move north. I would.
Challenge: Alphabetical Poems
Try this. Write a poem that uses each letter of the alphabet in sequence, allowing up to five articles and prepositions per verse, in lightface type. To allow five words (letters) in each line, A, B, C, and D are repeated at the end to make 30 words. Go for it. Here are four examples. If you can think of better word sequences, let me know!
Latest butterfly records yet
Until this fall, the 22nd of November was the latest date on which I observed butterflies. But this fall I have records from five dates in November and six dates in December, through the 20th, one day short of the solstice. On December 12th I found Colias eurytheme (alfalfa butterfly), Colias philodice (clouded sulfur), and Nathalis iole (dainty sulfur) on the wing in good numbers. On 16 December, Nathalis iole was about, basking laterally against the dark soil on a hillside. And on the 20th, Nathalis iole again, three of them. The previous record for this species was F. Martin Brown’s 3 December 1954 observation. Combined with last February’s records, we now have only about 48 days of butterfly-less weather! Here is Nathalis iole.
Colias eurytheme (alfalfa butterfly)
Colias philodice (clouded sulfur)
Autographa californica (California signature moth)
And Nathalis iole, the latest-flying butterfly on record, with a date stamp, one day before the winter solstice.
Nursery Rhymes
Here are a few nursery rhymes as I tell them.
South Texas Birds
One of my favorites: The Caracara, which means “Faceface” in Spanish. Doesn’t it? Well named!
And stilts. How about those legs!
Green jays are common along the Nueces River.
And scissor-tailed flycatchers. Wow!
Black-bellied plovers are in the Gulf bays.
An Entomological Lesson
Little is known of the predators of blister beetles. But we can speculate…
Trail Building: My Forté
People don’t usually appreciate how hard it is to build a good trail. Often, the process begins by removing fallen trees. This is particularly taxing if they weigh over ten tons, which many of them do. I strained my knee on this one.
But I was able to stand this one back up, luckily.
And I was able to push these apart so they wouldn’t fall. This is the best strategy, but you might have to hold them for a few years while they adjust.
Sometimes you can just bend them down and out of the way.
Some people cut them and push the halves to either side of the trail, like I’m doing here.
Other times, a flying kick move is necessary to make the logs move.
And this is to say nothing of the rocks. OMG, some of them require enormous strength to move off the trail. Luckily, I’m up to it, although I shook the ground with this one, which blurred the photograph slightly. Sorry.
I had to pull and slide this one across another rock. Very hard. Tremendously hard.
And on rare occasions, you have to use a karate chop. Can you see my black belt?
I once gave this lecture at the high school where I taught for many years, during Morning Meeting on Monday. I ran the projector from the back of the auditorium, speaking into a mike, and I could hear the freshmen saying, “Oh, give me a break. Who is he kidding? He couldn’t move those things!” So I added to my monologue. “Some people doubt my ability to do these amazing things, but here it is, before your very eyes.” Thanks to Katie for taking these photos while offering encouragement while I worked.
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