PAD Day 20: Bull in the Sky

 Today's prompts from Write Better Poetry and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a poem with the title "No _________," and (2) "try writing your own poem that uses an animal that shows up in myths and legends as a metaphor for some aspect of a contemporary person’s life. Include one spoken phrase."

I took the prompt rather literally today, and I'm not sure what the "spoken phrase" would be - I ended up writing in the first person so that whole last stanza sounds "spoken." Maybe the phrase in quotes ("You break it, you bought it") wound count. Anyway, here's the poem.

No Ordinary Bull
 
The Mesopotamians noticed it first, a large bull in the sky,
with long pointed horns and a bright, bloodshot eye.
The Greeks say Zeus put it there, as a reminder
of the time he became a bull to seduce Europa.
 
Now it still rises in the late April night,
when the sensual world is in full bloom—
tulips, cherry trees, azaleas—
and the red eye of Aldebaran still glares down.
 
Some born under that sign became famous:
Shakespeare and Florence Nightingale,
but also Hitler and John Wilkes Booth.
The astrologers say, we Taureans are steadfast
and loyal, artistic and loving,
materialistic, stubborn, and slow to change.
 
That’s me in a nutshell.
I’m also dangerous in a china shop—
“You break it, you bought it” was invented for me.
But I’m also a peaceful sort,
like the Spanish bull Ferdinand
in that kid’s storybook. Rather than fight,
I’d prefer to sit under a tree on a hill
and smell the flowers.