Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt works for me. Why? Who knows?? Directions — a georgic poem — was the prompt. Here it is:
In honor of Earth Day, I’d like to challenge you to write a georgic. The original georgic poem was written by Virgil, and while it was ostensibly a practical and instructional guide regarding agricultural concerns, it also offers political commentary on the use of land in the wake of war. The georgic was revived by British poets in the eighteenth century, when the use of land was changing both due to the increased use of enlightenment farming techniques and due to political realignments such as the union of England, Scotland, and Wales.
Your Georgic could be a simple set of instructions on how to grow or care for something, but it could also incorporate larger themes as to how land should be used (or not used), or for what purposes.
This poem has directions, at least to me. The advice I would give to new grandparents ~ treat your granchild(ren) as a gift. They are ours to enjoy. I hope the poem is fun, as well.
Buffaloed
I was wrong.
I thought I knew from motherhood.
But this little one – son of my elder son –
He buffalos me. I am a lumbering bovine
Slow to turn, slower to learn.
I am an animal of instincts
Circle & protect head down
This small one in the center
Here is what I know:
A son is an investment
We expect a return
Good manners, social success
But a grandson is a gift
An unread book of magic
I am turning page by page
Each incantation in a child’s treble
Alchemy My carbon maternity
Gentling to the gold of prairie grass
Mother into buffalo
Tea and Breath 