Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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.)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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. )
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)