Tuesday's View

They say it will rain - 

we pray, toss m&m's

to no avail.

STEM Friday: Luna Moths

One night while I was writing, a huge moth flew into my screen. Its wings were of the palest jade and spanned the width of my hand. It hung around - entranced by the glow of my desk lamp - long enough for me to find a field guide and learn that it was a luna moth. A moth? How could such a beautiful creature be a moth? I thought moths were hump-backed, earth-toned drab sisters to their more colorful butterfly cousins.

Luna Moths are named for the moon. One of my favorite books for kids is A Luna Moth's Life by John Himmelman (Children's Press). It's old - published in 1998 - but a gentle introduction to a gorgeous night flier. And it might be just the book that encourages your shy-of-the-dark kid to head out into the night looking for moths.

Himmelman follows the life of a luna moth, beginning with hatching from an egg to overwintering as a cocoon wrapped in a leaf, to emerging and laying her own eggs. It's simplified, and the birds never get the bug, but it's a great book for sitting on the couch and reading and then saying, "hey! why don't we go look for some luna moths!"

Sandra Markles's book, Luna Moths: Masters of Change (Lerner, 2008) is more recent and aimed at older readers - from 7 on up. Markle is a close observer and introduces readers to luna moths from A (antennae) to W (wings). There are close-up photos and every page has a "moth fact". Did you know that luna moths are only found in North America?

Markle gives the inside scoop on luna moth anatomy. Lunas have brains and really long hearts, and nerves ... but where's the stomach? They don't have a stomach! Oh, says Markle - that's because the adults don't eat. Want to know where Lunas lay their eggs? She's got it in there. Want to know how they make that leaf-cover to protect their cocoon all winter? She's got that too.  A great go-to reference for moth week.

Check out more neat books and science resources at STEM Friday.
Also check out some other cool nonfiction reading over at Nonfiction Monday.

The Poetry of Moths

on the one ton temple bell

a moon-moth, folded into sleep

sits still

(Buson, 1716-84)

Moths inspire poetry ... who hasn't been inspired to write about the moth, attracted to light, singeing the tips of its wings? Or, like the ancient haiku master, the contrast between the one ton bell and the fragile moth?

You don't have to be ancient to write moth poetry. Nor do you have to live in an exotic location. Anywhere you find moths, you'll find the inspiration for poetry. You might try your hand at haiku:

Hidden in plain sight

a gray moth on gray tree bark

waits for night to fall

(from A Haiku Each Day)

Haiku are short - like postcards they give a snapshot glimpse into nature. Traditionally, haiku is written in three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the last. But if your haiku has fewer syllables, don't worry - not every haiku poet follows the rules.

Try your hand at other kinds of poetry: 

• a list poem - all the things you know about moths
• an acrostic - write M, O, T, H down the page and then use each letter to begin that line
• something rhyming and fun

In Insectlopedia, Douglas Florian begins his poem about the Io moth like this: "The io moth/ Has mam-moth eyes/ That are not real-/ They're a disguise..."

 
Lisa Olstein has devoted an entire chapbook to poetry about living with moths. Reading Lost Alphabet (Copper Canyon Press, 2009) is like leafing through a lepidopterists's journal. The prose poems reflect on wings, attracting moths to a sheet using a lantern, classification, caterpillars hatching from eggs and shedding skins. But at its heart, it's about people.

In one poem Olstein's character notes: "I have learned to peer at specimens through a small crack in the center of my fist." This is actually a good trick for getting small things in focus. In another poem her character observes a moth wing close up. "What appears smooth is feathered. What appears feathered is scaled." Moths, it seems, wear armor on their wings.