Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Your showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s poet is Rockford’s Welsh elementary school student Conner Douglas.
Paula Coulahan, a Poetically Yours contributor, leads a group of fourth and fifth grade students who writes for their school newspaper the “Bulldog Beat.”
Conner contributes to this paper. His poem “The Death of My Caterpillar” won third place for the Rockford Writers' Guild Youth Poetry Contest for 2025.
One day I was at my grandma’s house with my cousin
I found a leafy spot and found a caterpillar
He eats leaves crunch crunch crunch munch munch munch
And I built a habitat for him safe safe safe
I took him to my house because I’m a GOOD FATHER!!
He was in a cocoon and he was gonna be a butterfly
Fly fly fly free free free
I took him outside and the unusual happened
My caterpillar fell out of my hands
I saw a bunch bunch bunch of ants
Crawling on him taking the pieces of him one by one by one
I was super sad cry cry cry
The end of my sad poem story