Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Grasshopper in Green

*

Mr Green




I went out for a walk
just before dusk
and thinking of Meri
stopped to look at the vine
that grew the curly flower
I showed you yesterday






I bent over the vine
 parted the leaves
and I came eye to eye
with Mr Green himself





as verdant and vibrant
as his surroundings





he watched me 
from his single eye
the one I could see






and pretended he wasn't there
and he almost wasn't
such was his wonderful camouflage
so I left him
to continue with his chomping
through the green
and continued on my way



*

27 comments:

  1. Green...green...green...
    Willow-Leaf-Threads
    Are Sliding
    River-Running-Water

    ONITSURA

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  2. lucky for him you didn't have a bit of chocolate to dip him in!

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  3. Wonderful, Alden
    that one is new to me and I have been looking for green haiku...thank you...

    happy days

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  4. Hi Tom
    do you eat chocolate grasshoppers at easter...we have choc frogs and choc koalas, choc bilbies, but not grasshoppers...yet...

    Now in Japan I ate roasted cicadas in soy...Yum very crunchy...

    Happy days

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  5. Your green grasshopper was so patient to pose for you, not hopping away like they do here. He reminds me of our green katydids.

    Smiles...Wanda

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  6. Hi Wanda

    He wanted me to think he wasn't there...not a movement...not even a twitch of his antennae...
    I got a surprise to see him actually...

    Happy days

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  7. Wanda
    I googled your green katydid and many of them have a flat back but one was a little like Mr Green only smaller...
    Mr Green was about three inches long with strong long leaping rear legs. He is the same species as the pair that were eating my raphis plant recently.

    Happy days

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  8. Wanda me again

    I have been looking at the varieties of grasshoppers in our corner of the state... there are so many, and we have katydids but I have not heard people refer to them as such.
    Mr Green is not surprisingly a 'Giant Grasshopper...'

    Happy days

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  9. What a handsome fellow. Seems he studied you too. Wonder what he wrote about you on his blog?

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  10. Hi Bonnie

    "that woman came by again
    leaned into my face
    pointed her machine right at my eye
    and clicked
    again
    and
    again"


    Happy days

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  11. Being such a hansom little guy, he must be used to posing for the camera by now.

    It isn't easy being green.

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  12. I love Mr. Green, and you've captured such detail. I always like seeing that herringbone pattern on their legs.

    p.s. I love all the Waterhouse paintings you have in your sidebar and the quotes too...

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  13. Such a fun and playful jaunt - thanks for sharing :)

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  14. I loved this! Grasshoppers have always been a favorite of mine. I am amazed by the fact that Mr. Green sat so still for you!

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  15. He seems to have a lot of personality, as if he could talk, if only he wanted to.

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  16. Hi Jain

    don't we love anthropomorphizing...

    happy days

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  17. Hi Bary

    perhaps he was too full to move...
    or too stunned to have me reveal him...


    Happy days

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  18. Hello there Kelly
    It is nice to have you call by and drop off a message.
    I looked at my birds again and other than being greyish in tone they resemble your sanderlings perfectly.

    Don't these grasshoppers have strong rear legs. I wonder how far they can leap.

    happy days

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  19. Hi GZ and thank you for calling in...

    Happy days

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  20. Hello Alexis,

    its lovely to see that bright and beautiful face...

    he was very patient, Mr Green...perhaps gorged himself into apathy...

    Happy days

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  21. Hi Tracy

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who calls critters, critters....

    Happy days

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  22. Delwyn, Your Grasshopper immediately reminded me of this Mary oliver poem - one of my favorites...

    THE SUMMER DAY
    by Mary Oliver

    Who made the world?
    Who made the swan, and the black bear?
    Who made the grasshopper?
    This grasshopper, I mean--
    the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
    the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
    who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
    who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
    Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
    Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

    I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
    I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
    how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.
    Tell me, what else should I have done?
    Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

    Tell me, what is it you plan to do
    with your one wild and precious life?

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  23. Hi Barb

    this Mary Oliver poem is a perfect accompaniment, thanks so much Barb

    Happy days

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  24. Lovely post, and Barb's offering of the Mary Oliver poem is the perfect complement.

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  25. Hi Dan
    Isn't it great to have friends who can add some perfect complements...

    Happy days

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  26. Ours are very yellow with very little green on them. No chocolate on mine please.

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