Rex F Gammon

Butterfly Cacoons Rex F Gammon

Although I have scribbled down poems from time to time throughout my life, I found an old forgotten use of cipher, or hidden messages within both letters and verse going back hundreds of years. This was at the time a complete and utter accident. But it hinged two passions of mine, mathematics and poetry. Many years ago while sitting in a dental office waiting for my appointment. I picked up a magazine to read, and read an article about William Shakespeare. The article went into some detail of how Shakespeare would hide puns or messages in his letters using a cipher. He would construct his messages by the extraction of every thirteenth word or syllable. So that when each of the thirteenth was put together, there would be a hidden message revealed. Look back to the time of Shakespeare, there was no mail system as we know it. Envelopes were not invented until the 1800's. There were no stamps. A letter was simply folded and sealed with melted wax; and the wax was stamped with the owners seal, hence the name or term stamp. Often letters were opened and read by anyone carrying them, so hidden codes to protect the true message were incorporated into many letters. I do not remember the magazine, and have never found a reference to this story again. But that doesn't really matter. What interested me was the thought of putting this concept to my poetry. I offer my own unique poetry. In the verse of the selected text titled Butterfly Cocoons, you will find note marks like this one in the text. These do not indicate footnotes but rather are a reference to the cipher encoded in the poetry. By pulling out each of the marked words you will find another poem; and another; and altogether four hidden poems. Hopefully you can have fun, and at the same time, be reading some interesting verse. I won't give you all the clues here, you'll get those in the volumes of the verse, and you will have to do a little math to find them all. After applying a cipher system to my poetry, I wrote several poems. I did share them with a few friends, and have been told that this may be new art form. Originally I stated writing my cipher verse for this book in 1980, and at one point thought it would always be mine alone to keep, not worthy to consider publishing. It was fun; it was interesting; and it tested my ability to write. But as time went by, and the more I shared my poetry, the more I was pressed to publish it. Finally, after a business trip to Ireland, I remembered why I wrote poetry and decided to finish what I had started. A few of the poems in this book are poems that I have saved through the years, and go back to the first poem I ever wrote at age nine. Another I gave to a girl, when I was thirteen. I have kept that one for the past forty plus years. Some are poems I had stored away in picture albums or drawers, and for some unknown reason just never threw them out; now I'm glad I didn't. Please enjoy ...