I was recently contacted via email by a freelance
permissions consultant who was writing on behalf of the international section
of the Educational Division of Oxford University Press. The consultant requested
my permission to use two short poems that I had written and posted on
Laura Salas’s blog. The publisher wants to include the poems in a 352 page,
paperback textbook for students aged 14-16. Here’s the funny thing: I had
forgotten that I had written the poems back in 2008 for one of Laura’s “15
Words or Less Poems” challenges.
Have any of you ever done that--forgotten poems that you had
written? I hate to admit that I’ve done it more than once.
For Poetry Friday this week, I have
another of my “forgotten” poems. I found it this morning when I was reading through
one of the drafts of my unpublished poetry collection titled Docile Fossil. It’s
a mask poem.
Dinosaur Egg
My shell turned to stone…
My heart and my bone.
I never saw sky,
Felt rain on my face.
I never knew snow.
I never hatched…
So…
How could I grow?
I was trapped in this place—
My rocky hard case
Eons ago.
I never knew light…
Only darkness and night.
I never was born.
My life was all done
Before it had begun.
********************
Matt has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Radio, Rhythm &
Rhyme.
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6 comments:
Hi Elaine, happy to see another of your mask poems! It's rather sad, isn't it, but would make children really think about those eggs found from so long ago. And, what a fun story about your 15 words or less poems, too! I hope you had a good holiday in your new home.
Interesting poem - love the voice and point of view. So nice, too, to 'find' a poem of your own.
I really like this poem, Elaine. Mask poems are fun and encourage the writer and the reader to look at things from a different perspective. The rhythm and vowel sounds draw the reader forward. Congratulations on your other poems being "found" for the anthology!
What a great story! I have TOTALLY forgotten poems I've written...SO I've started a super secret, super private blog where I'm trying to archive every poem...at least from last year on!
What a find! I'll have to try this with my sixth graders.
buOh, this one breaks my heart...and I love it. You have the best way of getting inside something/someone else, Elaine. Many congrats on your new place, too...I just looked at your beautiful photos. Those cabinets! xo, a.
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