Elissa Gordon
Circadian Rhythm
Something as small as a monarch butterfly
has the strength to cross large bodies of water,
all moving north toward Michoacán, Mexico,
may make it as far as Louisiana.
It is their grandchildren
who finally complete the trip.
Circadian rhythm,
points of light,
genetic code is hard-wired.
Novice birds in migration
use light to see.
Experienced birds see light
as s source of information.
Scientists say, It's an acute spectrum of behavior.
Please let my grandfather know I am here.
Bio
Elissa Gordon's poetry mines a childhood spent in New York and New England and a passion for travel and foreign langauge. She has appeared in anthologies of Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow Poets, Windmills (Australia), Offline, and The Stillwater Review, and upcoming in New Sun Rising -Stories for Japan, with proceeds going to benefit the March 11 Tsunami victims, and The Edison Review 2012. She has appeared online in The Poem Factory/The Word Place and Short, Fast & Deadly.