Today’s prompt: The instructor tells us “assigning meaning to objects, places, and animals is an ancient human practice.” The prompt is to write about talismans, about the signs that appear consistently in our life, thereby creating our own personal mythologies. This one was a lot of fun.
Shells, Rocks, Bird
One beach vacation
I hunted for only those miraculously
unbroken
despite the efforts of the sea
Instead, everywhere,
broken shells shaped like wings
poked through the sand
Symbolic of
angels? fairies? birds?
Who knows?
Here at home, far from oceans,
heart shaped rocks
are scattered across the ground
Held, they warm in the pocket of my hand
What are these? SIgns? Messages?
If so, I remind the world
that although I do enjoy poems
in this instance I’d prefer an essay
founded in classical rhetoric
a clear exposition of the how,
and most especially the why
While I await a more shapely reply
I do appreciate the chance
to get out of my head
and look around
at the real world which is
full to overflowing, thick with mystery,
with signs I can’t interpret
a fact plain as rocks and seashells
an open question repeated again
and again which, if indulged,
breeds patience
Over head, a small bird crosses
between me and the clouds
singing as he goes
Puff Of Smoke Poems 