Metamorphosis

Watery amniote to red-faced infant
dull caterpillar to winged beauty
cocoon state to external birth,
all begin, all change, metamorphose.

Playful child to young adult
fresh bloom to seasoned maturity
rapid growth to static life,
all begin, all change, metamorphose.

Mid-life toiler to reflective elder
incipient staleness to hoary wrinkle
ripeness of age to ultimate decline,
all begin, all change, metamorphose.

Venerable guide to feeble ancient
weakened body to inevitable death
exhausted shell to forgotten dust
all begin, all change, metamorphose.

J. B. Hogan is a fiction writer and poet living in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He has a Ph.D. in English (Literature) from Arizona State University (1979) and worked for many years as a technical writer. His writing credits include the four-story fiction chapbook Near Love Stories online at www.cervenabarvapress.com (forthcoming) and short stories, poems, and creative or academic non-fiction in: Istanbul Literary Review, Admit 2, Every Day Fiction, Every Day Poetry, Ranfurly Review, Dead Mule, The Scruffy Dog Review, Smokebox, Aphelion, Rumble, The Swallow’s Tail, Poesia, Bewildering Stories, Avatar Review, Copperfield Review, Ascent Aspirations, Megaera, The Pedestal Magazine, Dogwood Journal, Mastodon Dentist, Poets Against War, The Square Table, Raving Dove, Mid-America Folklore Journal, Mobius, Viet Nam Generation, Flashback, and The Mark Twain Journal.

Find more by J. B. Hogan in the Author Index.

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