Stopping by Turtle on a Rainy
Morning
Whose
shell this is I think I know.
His
head is under cover though;
He
doesn’t want me stopping here
To
watch him, crouching close and low.
I
startled him along the path.
He
wasn’t stepping very fast
Between
the ferns and dripping weeds,
This
wettest morning, for a bath.
He
freezes, puts on all his brakes
And
hopes that there is some mistake.
The
only other sound’s the blink
Of
careful notice that I make.
His
shell is lovely, arched and dark,
But
I can’t read his orange marks,
Our
miles of difference, slight and stark,
Our
miles of difference, slight and stark.
Heidi Mordhorst 2013
all rights reserved
So far the poems I've copy-tributed are classics by male poets. I also need to include a couple by women--but which? I can think of several Emily Dickinson ones that would work well, but what about a more modern classic American poet? Which Lucille Clifton or Maya Angelou poem would you suggest? Sylvia Plath? Dorothy Parker? They need to be widely recognizable, I think, for the "joke" to work. (It's not really a joke at all, but I want literate MS and HS readers to realize that something is going on even before they get to the reference.)
Of course I could sit down and surround myself with all my anthologies for a hunt, but I thought it would be more fun to start by asking you what classic poems by women spoke to you in your teens (or later). I'm sure you'll remind me of something obvious I've forgotten, or, as so often happens here, introduce me to something that somehow I've missed.
Thanks, and turtle on over to Write Time for the round-up with Linda Kulp!
