Day 6 Prompt.... Today’s (optional) prompt is ekphrastic in nature – but rather particular! Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem from the point of view of one person/animal/thing from Hieronymous Bosch’s famous (and famously bizarre) triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. Whether you take the position of a twelve-legged clam, a narwhal with a cocktail olive speared on its horn, a man using an owl as a pool toy, or a backgammon board being carried through a crowd by a fish wearing a tambourine on its head, I hope that you find the experience deliriously amusing. And if the thought of speaking in the voice of a porcupine-as-painted-by-a-man-who-never-saw-one leaves you cold, perhaps you might write from the viewpoint of Bosch himself? Very little is known about him, so there’s plenty of room for invention, embroidery, and imagination.
I table the prompt for another time. Indulge me, I implore you, for today I shall post another poem of a similar Prompt from an entirely separate situation: at a Writer’s Workshop, put on by Nest & Story, the prompt was a random picture handed to me. I don’t have the picture, but I do have the following poem...
It’s a Zoo in Here!
Characters (in a roomful of other rather non-descript, stereotypical, poser party people)
Paul - a dude
Chameleon guy -
Sly Cat -
Phil - a dude
Lenny - has a giraffe head
Bird Brain -
Buddy -
And, me - hiding behind the potted plant
It’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant again.
You see, I had convinced myself to get out of the house more.
I vowed that I’d actually make it to a party that I said I would go to.
I’m here.
I miss the familiar comfort of my couch.
So, anyway, it’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant...
It’s kinda cozy back here in my own little space.
I peer through the leaves and sneak a peek.
I notice Paul, in his dapper suit, talking to that chameleon guy, you know....
the one who’s always changing his views to please?
He’s got a purple cravat, knitted knotted just so #hashtag #trending,
and his hair is just so precise, not a strand out of place.
Why, just once, I’d like to see it askew...
I wrinkle my nose as the thick stench of pomp wafts my way,
ah, but it’s just cigar smoke and
I can’t stifle my.... aaaaa - aaaa - cchhhhhhooooooooo...
and everyone turns to look at the potted plant that sneezed
before turning back to their own one-up-manship sparring matches,
each trying to become the ultra-Alpha, conversational victor of the room
Sly Cat, and Phil (who’s got his bow tie on this evening,
so you know it’s a special night);
well, they speak of stocks and bonds and such, and since
they normally never even notice me on the street,
I’m not sure I have the courage to approach.
Even Lenny - he’s got a giraffe head, for Pete’s sake! -
even he is part of things.
He’s there, with Bird Brain and Buddy,
having a fine time... I’d love to know what they were saying....
Turns out, I never knew that what they were actually talking about was:
Sly Cat and Phil, bow ties and bonds,
Paul and cravats and cigars,
Chameleon guys and that one freak crouching in the corner behind the sneezing potted plant.
But, hey, it’s a zoo in here!
Paul - a dude
Chameleon guy -
Sly Cat -
Phil - a dude
Lenny - has a giraffe head
Bird Brain -
Buddy -
And, me - hiding behind the potted plant
It’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant again.
You see, I had convinced myself to get out of the house more.
I vowed that I’d actually make it to a party that I said I would go to.
I’m here.
I miss the familiar comfort of my couch.
So, anyway, it’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant...
It’s kinda cozy back here in my own little space.
I peer through the leaves and sneak a peek.
I notice Paul, in his dapper suit, talking to that chameleon guy, you know....
the one who’s always changing his views to please?
He’s got a purple cravat, knitted knotted just so #hashtag #trending,
and his hair is just so precise, not a strand out of place.
Why, just once, I’d like to see it askew...
I wrinkle my nose as the thick stench of pomp wafts my way,
ah, but it’s just cigar smoke and
I can’t stifle my.... aaaaa - aaaa - cchhhhhhooooooooo...
and everyone turns to look at the potted plant that sneezed
before turning back to their own one-up-manship sparring matches,
each trying to become the ultra-Alpha, conversational victor of the room
Sly Cat, and Phil (who’s got his bow tie on this evening,
so you know it’s a special night);
well, they speak of stocks and bonds and such, and since
they normally never even notice me on the street,
I’m not sure I have the courage to approach.
Even Lenny - he’s got a giraffe head, for Pete’s sake! -
even he is part of things.
He’s there, with Bird Brain and Buddy,
having a fine time... I’d love to know what they were saying....
Turns out, I never knew that what they were actually talking about was:
Sly Cat and Phil, bow ties and bonds,
Paul and cravats and cigars,
Chameleon guys and that one freak crouching in the corner behind the sneezing potted plant.
But, hey, it’s a zoo in here!
I tried to find a picture and couldn’t. I was almost bummed out until I realized that the poem IS the picture... and I - and you - could take it upon ourselves to make a picture of our own.... ooooihhhh, fun:)
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