I wrote this for dVerse Poets last year but didn’t get it posted in time so the link had closed. Since it is perfect for today’s prompt, I’m going to publish it on dVerse Poets now. Here is the prompt: The challenge is to write a poem in the first person that compares some trait of ours with something animal. It should not be a whale, but another creature (mammal, fish, bird, insect, etc.) with which we have something in common.
This poem nearly drove me crazy. The form kept shifting when sent to WP, decided to screen shot, then to photograph, nothing working.Then mistakenly erased the first page of the manuscript, so couldn’t even print it in WP altered form. Finally decided to settle on these photos of the poem I’d made earlier that I found in the trash. Only to find the Open Link time for dVerse Poets had elapsed!!! (Expletive deleted.) So, here it is with all its warts, three hours later!!!! Is 1 p.m. too early to drink????
Fantastic, Judy! It is so vividly alive!
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A visceral read! 💕
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You channeled the non-human so well. WP can do a lot, but formatting outside of geometric shapes is not one of them. Glad it found its way to dVerse.
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Thanks, Lisa. I’m glad, too…finally.
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You’re very welcome. Technical difficulties can be soooo frustrating!
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It’s OK, Judy, you don’t have to link up again, I’ve fixed it! I love how you got under the animal skin and into its hooves.I felt as though I was there too! I love the shape of your poem, and I know how tricky those kinds of poems can be to format. It feels like shapeshifting.
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Exactly how it felt writing it–perhaps like what the Mexicans call a nahual. An insightul comment, Kim
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You’ve really inhabited another creature’s mind. Great build up of tension too. (K)
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I did feel taken over..Thanks for reading and commenting!
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This is gorgeously rendered, Judy! 💝💝 I agree, formatting can be a bit tricky on WordPress. Love the shape of this 🙂
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Love the poem(s), love the shape, and love your perseverance to get this done Judy! Well written, very engaging. I really felt your possession of the animals – very effective. Sorry for the struggle, but thank you for undertaking it. You were relentless… 🙂
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Thanks, Rob. It helps that I am not at home so have no secondary tasks to take care of! Who would have guessed.
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