2015 Sound Poem Project Day 20: Reptiles

It’s Day 20 of Author Amok's 2015 poem-a-day project. We are spending February writing in response to sounds.  

For a full description of the project and how to participate, please read this post. I hope you'll join us. I'll continue posting poems from Day 19 as they come in. Thanks to everyone who has sent in poems so far.

Thanks for playing along today, everyone. I know this prompt had a little bit of an ick factor for many of us. Our instructions were to go to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's online Macauley Library and ...

Our Day 20 prompt is: pick your reptile sound.

He's a noisy fellow: Tokay Gecko

I had to laugh when Margaret Simon sent this note with her poem: “Reptiles are not my favorite, so I just chose the first one.”

Stretched tight rubber band

sling shots guttural alarm

Gecko gets gumption

Let’s get Patricia VanAmburg’s poem in here, because you’ll see the connection to the photograph Margaret shared. This poem is a lovely little ode to our gecko.

Tokay Gecko

By Patricia VanAmburg

Raspberries to you O

red spotted dragon—

the yoga breath

of wind breaker pose—

gobbler of small birds—

connoisseur of crickets

I love the comical little couplet at the end of Mike Ratcliffe’s gecko poem. Mike captures part of what makes geckos such fascinating little creatures.

Gekko gecko on my wall-- croak-croak,

your name an echo of your call.

Fifteen minutes, I watch you crawl.

I must learn why you never fall.

Hmm… Another gecko poem. No rattlers? No giant monitor poems in the crowd? Here is Linda Baie’s gecko poem.

Dreaming Distress (Tokay Gecko)

Kittens mew

Puppies whimper

Bears moan

Ponies nicker

And geckos,

geckos? Yes,

a sad tone,

squeaking screams,

but

softly,

in their dreams.

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

Typical of me. I had to, albeit unknowingly, be different. I wondered what the quiet juvenile cobra in the video clips must think of all those noisy scientists.

The Cobra Yawns

By Laura Shovan

I yawn. The humans

are too busy talking

to hear the quiet crick

as my jaw stretches wide.

I slide. Their chit chat

hides the silky brush

of scales on wood.

Muscles stretch.

Stripes glide. I flick

my tongue at the air.

Do they care?

They yammer on.

No wonder humans think

my coils are wound

without a sound.

Donna Smith ofMainely Write has a poem for team snake. She chose a snake that is common to her home state of Maine. What a shapely poem.

Common Garter Snake -- Thamnophis sirtalis
by Donna Smith

S s
     ss            i i 
         s s    i i       l         l   
             i i            e    t     y
                              n

I crawl to be 
        over rocks 
             and under tree
                  and then I stop
    and all you heard
        was the 
           crinkly word
                  of a leaf 
                       I crossed or a 
               crossing bee.
        you won’t
                hear
                   me.

One more for Team Snake! Thanks to Robyn Hood Black for sending in this rattler poem -- what a great metaphor.

Call My Bluff
by Robyn Hood Black

ssingle

playing card

in the spokes of 

my purple bicycle’s back wheel

speeding up/slowing down

back forth back

must be a 

diamond

Wow -- the snake poems are making a late rally. Here is one from Charles Waters.

SNAKES ARE …

Animated,

 Multi-designed garden hoses

Of serpentine movement;

Forked tongue flicker,

Fang baring, venom sharing muncher,

Buzzing like a radiator on the fritz,

A lawnmower sputtering to

An empty gas tank

Or a bike chain scratching

Concrete after falling off

Its frame.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

And a true close encounters of the snake-kind story from Buffy Silverman:

"Yours truly was the nature center teacher with a bunch of fifth graders throwing hula hoops that landed around a rattlesnake."

Massasauga Morning

by Buffy Silverman

 

Away from the forest trail

they tromp through damp fields,

mud oozing under each sneakered foot.

They circle around as

the teacher explains their task:

toss the hula hoop,

identify and count every plant in the hoop,

record what they find,

then toss again.

The fifth graders jostle one another,

uncertain of how to begin,

their chatter a low hum of confusion.

Finally a girl steps forward, grabs the hoop and tosses;

the others sprint to where it lands

clipboards banging against eager legs.

They edge forward then

freeze

as leaves crinkle

grasses bend

under the slithering body

that stops

raises a rattle

its ratcheting sound

raising hairs on the backs of every neck.

The teacher hurries them away

to a safe distance

where they listen in awe

and watch the Massasauga.

Here are all of the sound prompts for the third week of February. I will post our final seven sound prompts on Saturday, 2/21.

Sunday, February 15

Video of Santa Fe's Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi by my Albuquerque friend, Jennifer Lewis.

Monday, February 16
Quaking aspen. Read more about this sound here.

Tuesday, February 17

Laughing child

Wednesday, February 18

The sounds of space

Thursday, February 19

Museum stairwell

Friday, February 20
Follow the link to choose your reptile.

Saturday, February 21

You'll need to turn the volume high to hear this one.

If you'd like some poem-starters to wake up your muse, you'll find them at the bottom of this post. Drop in any time with a poem. I’ll continue to post your work throughout the month, no matter which sound you are writing in response to.

Would you like to read what we’ve written so far? Here are links to the week 2 poems. You can find links to the week 1 poems on all of these posts:

Sunday, February 8

Sound of Waves Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Laura Shovan, Margaret Simon, and Charles Waters.

Monday, February 9

Bubbling Cauldron Poems by Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Laura Shovan, and Buffy Silverman.

Tuesday, February 10

Fireworks Poems by Charles Waters, Diane Mayr, and Laura Shovan.

Wednesday, February 11

Classic Typewriter Sound Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Mike Ratcliffe, and Laura Shovan.

Thursday, February 12

Mockingbird Poems by Linda Baie, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Charles Waters, and Margaret Simon.

Friday, February 13

Cape Eagle Owl Call Poems by Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Charles Waters, and Diane Mayr.

Saturday, February 14

Male Woodcock Mating Call Poems by Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, and Charles Waters.