Poem of the Week

Butterfly Laughter

By Katherine Mansfield

In the middle of our porridge plates

There was a blue butterfly painted

And each morning we tried who should reach the

butterfly first.

Then the Grandmother said: "Do not eat the poor

butterfly."

That made us laugh.

Always she said it and it always started us laughing.

It seemed such a sweet little joke.

I was certain that one fine morning

The butterfly would fly out of our plates,

Laughing the teeniest laugh in the world,

And perch on the Grandmother's lap.

Katherine Mansfield was a modernist writer born in 1889 in New Zealand. She liked to explore the subconscious mind and her poems have a confessional tone written in third person narrative style. Mansfield's compressed style is unique in the sense that it is not eliminated but has a perch in completion.

Butterfly laughter is a colorful poem filled with joy and in the background we see childish innocence layered with humor. A cordial, sweet relationship between grandmother and grandchildren is well depicted here.

Photo Courtsey : Rightfully owner