‘Research Guideline’ and Other Poetry by James Ph. Kotsybar

Research Guideline

Throughout investigative history,
a basic principle has long held sway:
When we unravel Nature’s mystery,
complexity’s the first to fall away.

Upon one underpinning postulate,
succinctly balanced, we’ve come to expect
all facts that we’ve observed should always fit,
with math that’s both appealing and correct.

Proposing supposed significance,
unless our models of the world can stun
with simple, beautiful magnificence,
rejections come before explanation.

If cumbersome, try a new avenue.
Prevailingly, it’s elegance that’s true.

Morphed

The blissful butterfly seems unconcerned,
while sipping nectar, flitting with its mate,
but it remembers everything it learned
when caterpillar seemed its only fate.

When it could only inch along and feed
to saturate its flesh with pungency
of bitter leaves – a deft defense, indeed,
from predators from whom it could not flee –
it literally was embittered by
its appetite and all that it consumed.
It never dreamt that one day it would fly.
While lacking wings, how could it have presumed?

Recalling its state before pupation,
its pulsing wings signal celebration.

James Ph. Kotsybar is a poet and owner of Chaotic Exotics orchid nursery, in California.

Featured Image: Photo from NASA

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