Friday, April 13, 2018

PAD Day 13: A Plea from the Lowly Worm

Today's dual prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) write a poem about an insect (or other small creepy-crawly) and make it the poem's title, and (2) "write a poem in which the words or meaning of a familiar phrase get up-ended. For example, if you chose the phrase 'A stitch in time saves nine,' you might reverse that into something like: 'a broken thread; I’m late, so many lost.' Or 'It’s raining cats and dogs' might prompt the phrase 'Snakes and lizards evaporate into the sky.'"  I hope I did justice to the second prompt, but I did enjoy writing this one:


Early Worms

We're disgusting to so many -
eyeless, legless, flesh-colored, slimy,
snaky little things wriggling out of moist earth
and squirming, beached in a way,
on sidewalks after a storm.  
But how many times have we served you
sacrificing ourselves as bait for the fish
you put on your dinner tables?
Must we remind you farmers and gardeners
that we creatures create the rich soil
that grows your flowers and crops?
And don't forget, if you can bear it,
the service we perform after you die.
We think, if there were any justice in this world,
the saying would be, "The early worm gets the bird."