21 - strange bedfellows

a thing

of different

flesh

a shell

to read the runes

of the back

foot gripping

rock weight pulling

across a landscape

of strange and peachy skin

not one of you

hold close

it is

so very warm here

20 - size matters

an empty pocket

lo(o)se change

mixing in

a gutter

previously spent

on clean water

 

Rule Britannia

for only 20p, a
copy of a queen

dwarfed by

monarch Windsor
monarch butterfly

but

in time the backwidens

the claws

harden

in time

an island grows

up from a stone.

(Notes: After working with some fantastic poets at Loughborough this year, I'm playing around with shape and other visual elements in poetry.)

19 - eye

rising
orange sun

the eye
a pre-history
a pre-hieroglyph

a cycle of days and nights
primordial ocean
ancient mud

a dark and heavy thing rises
sinks claw and beak
into lesser flesh

between grasping jaws
a record
that which is not swallowed
becomes fossil
and the eye
pre-dates
and continues.



(I realized this one has similar language to last week's poem for Audrey, the awesome RES, and I'll chock that up to the fact that one of my favorite things about turtles is their timelessness, the fact that they predate so many other creatures, including man himself. That timeless nature is particularly evident, I feel, in their eyes, which, regardless of how cute we may find some modern-day turtles, have never lost that old reptilian look that so sets them apart.

No idea where the image came from, and TinEye had nothing on it.)

18 – bucket (for Audrey)

to suffer
the shape of

abjection
to suffer
the form deformed
the spine bent into a bowl
that might collect
all twenty years

cloying of egg whites
about the tongue
to suffer
the taste

bucket daughter
who spells
with every bend of her arm
a long long history

Water writes
that history into her back
like a stone.




(Pictured above is Audrey, a female red eared slider who, as anyone can see, is severely deformed. According to information from the folks at Little RES Q, a Canada-based reptile rescue and rehab facility, Audrey suffered terrible neglect at the hands of her previous owners, who kept her in an unheated, unfiltered bucket with no UVA/B lighting for twenty years. In addition to her horrible living conditions, during those twenty years Audrey received only egg whites to eat. She currently lives at Little RES Q, where she receives the care she needs and deserves. Photo used with permission of Little RES Q.

Loads more pictures of Audrey, some of which showcase the shape her forelegs can make to her shell deformity, can be found at Little RES Q's Facebook page. )

17 - snakeneck

You can tell by the neck
which way is east

the distance of points
without speech

you can
crawl on your belly where
there are no bridges

you can
watch a sungod rise
over scaly skin

you can
exchange your meager knowledge
for a heel of bread
and incense

burn lavender at night
for the wellbeing of others
who may or may not love you

burn sandalwood in the morning
as you look eastward,
dazed and waiting
with ashes in your hair.




(This image has been a longstanding request from my best friend, Amy, who adores this rather high-looking snakenecked turtle. I don't have a source for this image, but it does seem to be a fairly popular one.)

Two months

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2012 is to actually keep up with my weekly schedule here. I've had a lot on my plate this winter, but I'm hoping to get out of my bad habit of neglecting projects, including this one.

EDIT, May 29: Clearly, I failed at that resolution. I'm working on getting it together again right now, since my current job at the university is over for the term.