Day 22 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2015

Day Twenty-Two. It's Earth Day, everyone! Both our official prompts are connected to that celebration, I think. Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo prompt: "Today is Earth Day, so I would like to challenge you to write a 'pastoral' poem. Traditionally, pastoral poems involved various shepherdesses and shepherds talking about love and fields, but yours can really just be a poem that engages with nature." Robert Lee Brewer's PAD prompt: "write a nature poem. For many poets, the first thing that may pop to mind includes birds, trees, waterfalls, rivers, and such. But there’s also human nature, nature vs. nurture, and other things natural, including natural selection and being a 'natural' at something. Let your nature take it where it will today." I gotta confess, I'm not very nature-oriented, and pastorals don't come easily to me. I have lots of allergies to pollen and other plant-y whatevers, and so spring is not my favorite season, by a long shot. In fact, while probably many of you are happy that here north of the equator spring has sprung in the springliest fashion, I was up most of last night with painful sinuses, a congested head, and heavy sniffles — the antihistamine and painkiller I took not even making the littlest dent in the discomfort. So while probably many NaPoWriMo/PAD-ers wrote about flowers and such today, I did not. One thing I've wanted all my life, though, is to be able to fly. (I'm still upset about why we haven't gotten — as we were "promised" when I was a kid — jetpacks and rocketpacks available in stores and also flying cars like the Jetsons had. What's up with that?) Anyway, I wrote about natural creatures that can fly. I really wanted to slip dragons into the poem, but I'm told they've never existed in nature. You'll see how I solved that problem, though. Flyers Across meadows Bumblebees flutter, Cumbersome Dancers, Ever searching for the best Flowers, colorful faces above Green seas of grass. Hummingbirds dash and hover In wide loping arabesques, Jumping red yellow orange, Kissing the wide-open Lips of blossoms. Macaws, blue and gold Amazon Natives, dart sweep soar from One tangled branch to another. Pterodactyls, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, Ruled their kingdoms from vast Skies, gliding diving snatching Tiny furred mammals Unaware of wheeling death. Violet and teal dragonflies, Wings translucent X's, Yaw and Zip through azure air. Photo by fir0002/Flagstaffotos —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] About his pastoral/nature poem today, Alan said, "This one hurt me." I'd be interested to hear why you think he says that. Here's the poem. P O E M   R E M O V E D while being submitted for publication.   Please come back later. The poem may return at some time in the future. Thank you!       This is an excellent example of alexandrines, also called dodecasyllables . . . that is, 12-syllable lines. Done very gracefully, Alan. He also says, "I was not concerned with end rhymes, more with echoes throughout, such as referring to cattle as 'beeves' to echo 'bees,' near rhymes within lines, and, of course, assonance, which can be the most emotive musical device one can write in words." Thanks, Alan. Friends, won't you comment, please? Love to know what you're thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don't find the word "comments" in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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