The tenth of April. For the first time this month, we need all our fingers to count the days. Double digits. ;-)
Here are today's prompts. Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides suggests writing "a suffering poem. A person or animal in the poem could be suffering. The poem itself could be suffering." Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo site proposes an "un-love poem" for day ten. "An un-love poem isn’t a poem of hate, exactly — that might be a bit too shrill or boring. It’s more like a poem of sarcastic dislike."
Today, I'm doing both prompts again in the same piece. Hope you enjoy the poem!
Superhero
for Kathy
Tiger Woman loped through green jungle.
Hum of insects, bird song, monkey chatter
paused as she drew near and passed, though
she was quiet as a breeze, a wisp of smoke.
That memory filled Tiger Woman’s mind.
When she could slip past tangled trunks
and fronds or petals stippled with rain
would still have drops on them afterward.
When the black stripes on her naked flanks
melted into forest shadows, and she would
be invisible, a voluptuous camouflaged shape
blending into the landscape she sheltered.
But now the hum of electricity, maelstrom
of traffic surrounds Tiger Woman, do not
respectfully hush upon her approach. People
yell at her, "Hey, you a thick bitch, girl!"
They cackle at her tiger print spandex.
Bump against her on the sidewalk, "Watch
where ya goin! Think ya own the street?"
Babble, cacophony, harsh voices, gibberish.
None know how she protects them. Battles
evil forces, duels demons from other realms.
How her tiger senses can feel a dimensional
rift tearing open and malevolent monsters
threatening this world. How she alone wars
with them, drives them back into unspeakable
darkness, their Cimmerian fiefdoms.
Marvels only Tiger Woman can perform.
But the worst indigity of all: her feet hurt.
They hurt all the time in these leather casings
called shoes. Always walking on hard concrete,
not the soft loam of ground below the foliage.
Ah, but such is the life of the superhero. Yes,
there is no longer the honor of old, no longer
the lovely jungle air, and yes, your feet hurt —
there is all of that to un-love, to suffer, but
yes, you love that moment when the rift
yawns and the abominable, hideous beasts
begin to enter. It is then your blood sings,
your claws slash, you launch into the breach.
Then are you glorious, then is all dishonor
undone, then are you as you were, Queen
Primeval, zaftig warrior of ancient days.
Again, and always, you are Tiger Woman.
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Art by Jedediah Dougherty (2000)
Isn't that a marvelous image for Tiger Woman? Check out painter and scuptor Jedediah Dougherty's wonderful art. His websites are Jed's Art.com and Jebriodo on deviantART.
Okay, that's it for today. See you on Day 11. Ingat, everyone. ;-)
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