The Inchworm

By Susan Read Cronin

Hanging by a thread
              that’s how I find you. 


You light upon my shoulder.
              I will carry you farther 


than you’ve ever been before.
              I will take you up a trail 


lined with bougainvillea. 
              Your eyes will not see


the beauty spread before us—
              they will only sense
light and dark. You will turn into a moth. 


Attracted by the light, in the dark
              you will fly into a flame 


and bring with you no memory
of what you are now: 


a small green stripe, stretching out
              to become a full inch 


in the immeasurable world
              that lies—vast
                         beyond my shoulder.

Susan Read Cronin is best known for her playful bronze sculptures. She is the author of Bronze Casting in a Nutshell and in 2020 published Notices, her first chapbook of poetry. She is currently working on another book of poems. Also by this poet: "The Dandelion of Plymouth Rock"