---

A butterfly
landed on my finger today.
I reached out to see what it would do
and it perched, balanced
on my finger.
Its wings opened
and closed,
opened
and closed;
a couple butterfly wing beats more
to bring disaster to the doors of people around the world—
or not.
The butterfly effect isn’t definitive proof
of reality balanced on a string,
on a finger.
“He’s resting,” my dad said, nodding at it.
“He just ate some sap.”

---

Author:

Mariah Wills graduated from Morningside College in 2017 with an English and Spanish major. She is currently working as an ESL Instructor at Iowa Lakes Community College in Spencer, IA.

Artist:

Anna Uehling is a sophomore at Morningside College. She is majoring in advertising and graphic design. Growing up in Minnesota, Anna was surrounded by nature, fishing and camping. This love of nature is the inspiration for much of Anna’s art.

Voice Actor:

Engels Perez is a student at Morningside College.