Wednesday, April 20, 2016

MY FEET ARE KILLING ME

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Phew! I've been attempting to unravel the prompt over at Found Poetry Review, but it's a really laborious one. I figured I'd come over to NaPoWriMo and see what the prompt was for today, and it's a little less time-consuming:

"Today’s prompt comes to us from Vince Gotera, who suggests a prompt very much in keeping with our poet in translation, a “kenning” poem. Kennings were riddle-like metaphors used in the Norse sagas. Basically, they are ways of calling something not by its actual name, but by a sort of clever, off-kilter description — for example, the sea would be called the “whale road.” Today, I challenge you to think of a single thing or person (a house, your grandmother, etc), and then write a poem that consists of kenning-like descriptions of that thing or person. For example, you might call a cat a mouse-stalker, quiet-walker, bird-warner, purr-former, etc."


My Feet Are Killing Me


There you lie, gap-toothed land lumberer,
submerged in swamp-stench,
waiting for a dead dog
(or even a live one; you wouldn't mind)
or fish entrails from the Co-op
to be thrown your way.
Scale-swathed dinosaur of the day,
you toss that head of yours from side to side,
willing me, wanting me to—what?
Take your picture? Provide you with a leg? 
Not going to do it, not today. 
Instead, I stare into your hook-eye
and am transported back eons
to when you first evolved,
efficient killer, cannibalistic assassin,
who would name a shoe for you?






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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great poem! I saw the kenning prompt, but here you've made it much more as far as I can see!

But I am stumped by your totem animal. Sounds like alligator but the eye looks like turtle.

Linda Crosfield said...

Added another picture, just for you! American Crocodiles down here in the mangrove. 250–500 of 'em.

Anonymous said...

ha. Thanks, Linda. I did not think of crocs!