GloPoWriMo Day 9 - encyclical from the cardinal

 

Each day the folks at NaPoWriMo are offering a prompt, and I'll start there and see what happens. I'm using my daily drafts to work on a middle grade book with the working title of TREEOGRAPHY, so there will be a lot of tree drafts this month. 

APR 9

Marianne Moore wrote on many themes… many poems about – or in the voice of – animals, such as “The Fish,” “Dock Rats,” “The Pangolin,” and “No Swan so Fine.” Today, try writing your own poem in the voice of an animal or plant, or a poem that describes a specific animal or plant with references to historical events or scientific facts.

This one is not at all in the style of Marianne Moore--I'll come back to that--and it's not springy, but my book will be all seasons, so here it is, a pantoum.

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Encyclical from the Cardinal



I rebel, my red against the gray:

All winter I surprise your eye again

While the planet’s ills around you weigh

While the air is chill and branches bare




All winter I surprise your eye again

My mate and I remind you, flashing cheer

While the air is chill and branches bare

We swoop and wing our joy: another day!



My mate and I remind you, calling cheer

However dread the news, my red rebels

We swoop and wing our joy: another day!

We do not leave; we weather it, we stay



However dread the news, my red rebels

While the planet’s ills around you weigh

We do not leave; we weather it, we stay

I remain the red against the gray.