A poem inspired by the latest wordle at Read Write Poem:
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Omens on My Forty-Ninth Birthday
That morning,
in the clover of my garden,
I find a poisonous snake
curled in slumber.
Too cold to extend and coil,
it shakes the keratinous husk
of its tail.
Not long after,
I find a toad.
Hiding from predators
(and perhaps the limelight
of human fairy tales),
it conforms to the shape
and color
of mud.
If I were hip to messages from
some god, I might see omens -
the beginning of a multitude of plagues.
What would be the next remedy
for my earthly sins?
But I scoff at divine laws -
such a pittance of ideas
I see in each snake,
a confection
and in each toad
a plum
that brings me closer
in my aging
to the wildness
of childhood.
Yet that night
I wake from a dream
that steals my sleep -
a tarantula in the clover.
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If you want to know more about my history with snakes, toads, and spiders, check out these blog posts…
….and this essay published online in Fringe Magazine: The Environment Issue…
The last two stanzas are amazing -what a wonderful view of age with the reality creeping in at the end. I have been writing “birthday” poems since I turned 40 – I am jealous of this one!
Donna – Thanks for the compliment. I’m jealous I never thought of writing birthday poems before. I might have to steal your idea and make this a regular habit.
This reads like a natural progression of thought, not as if it came from a prompt at all — nice job! And I have to agree, those last 2 stanzas are pretty terrific. Thanks.
Thanks Marie. It’s great to get feedback on what’s working. I really had that dream too. I can’t make this stuff up.
Liz, happy birthday! So love your birthday naturalist poem. A brilliant ending to the double edged joy of birthdays.
Hi Irene. Good to hear from you and thanks for kind comments and birthday wishes. I’m looking forward to reading your poem later tonight.
Happy Birthday to Liz
A poet in her prime
She lives on the prairie
Her work is divine
How lovely to get a birthday poem from you Rallentanda. Thank you.
You’ve taken the prompt words and well and truly made them your own. A very enjoyable read, thank you for sharing it.
Joanne- That’s what I try so hard to do, so it means a lot that you can recognize it. Thank you.
It is good to see you back and in such fine form! What a beautiful poem for yourself and what a good job with the prompt! I love the yin yang of the confection in the snake and the plum in the toad. Happy birthday!
Thanks for your comments and birthday wishes Tamra. It’s good to be back. I hope to participate more when we get our satellite dish and a faster internet connection.
Amazing omens! I love the looseness of this, the seeking of tomorrow and the non-humans that fill the dream spots.
Tumblewords – Thanks for your comments. A lot of my poetry (as well as my life) features the nonhuman world. It’s what I love to write about.
And in each toad a plum! I love that phrase. Simply delightful, beginning to end. Yes, as said before, it all feels very natural, not contrived. Pretty impressive for such a pile of non-contiguous words. Nice, very nice indeed! Thanks for sharing with us.
Neil – I love how the wordle brought those words to me. I doubt I would have come up with such odd ways of describing snakes and toads otherwise. Thanks for your comments.
This is absolutely delightful, a beautiful way to celebrate one more year. Happy birthday! And thank you for sharing these marvelous omens with us.
Thanks for your comments and birthday wishes. I may post a photo of the rattlesnake in the next few days. It was a beauty.
Nice use of the words and happy (belated) birthday. Love your toad, both in words and image. Don’t know about tarantulas, but spiders are creators, and the clover must be luck.
Barbara – Thanks for the comment and birthday wishes. I was working out of a personal history — love of reptiles and amphibians, irrational phobia or spiders, especially hairy ones. But I appreciate your insight into more varied meanings of the symbols.
Wonderful imagination. Loved the last stanza!
for a pittance, you buy that confection
Thanks Gautami. I think I work more out of everyday experience and observation than imagination. I really had these encounters and the dream on my birthday. I don’t have enough of an imagination to make this stuff up.
The simplicity and straightforwardness of these lines is elegant. I feel as if I know the woman who wrote them, her love of nature and can feel the cool air as she wanders. My favorite?
I see in each snake,
a confection
and in each toad
a plum
Pamela – It’s helpful to know what worked for various readers. I appreciate the details in your lovely comments. Thanks.
What a terrific poem! I love so many aspects of it. I like the interplay of good omen (sleeping snake) with bad omen (a poisonous snake). Sometimes we don’t know what a “sign” means until destiny plays out. As someone who recently turned fifty years old, I can say that I’m really glad my forties are over!
Therese – Thanks. I’ve enjoyed my forties but welcome the benefits of maturity, especially the license to be more eccentric. That includes a fascination with all snakes, even poisonous ones. We’ll see where it leads.
This is a wonderful poem. I love the way it values a personal relationship with the natural world.
A lovely and insightful poem, and a great picture of one of my favorite critters. I love the ‘wildness of childhood,’ and the sense of a circularity rather than linearity to age.
Thank you, David. Coming from an accomplished poet like yourself, that means a lot.