Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was a gem: “Find a factual article about an animal. A Wikipedia article or something from National Geographic would do nicely – just make sure it repeats the name of the animal a lot. Now, go back through the text and replace the name of the animal with something else – it could be something very abstract, like “sadness” or “my heart,” or something more concrete…you can then rearrange and edit into a poem.”
That works beautifully for me! See if you can guess the animal I chose (answer below):
The common heart
… would be unique
for its appearance alone.
But the most striking characteristic
of the common heart
is the wide array of techniques it uses
to avoid or thwart attackers.
The common heart can hide in plain sight
shape-shifting in a nanosecond
changing colours, even matching
the music of another pulse.
It curls up impossibly small
squeezing into small dark spaces
as if it knew how very fragile
a common heart is.
Secretive by nature
the common heart
is the most intelligent of hearts
blue of blood
writing with ink
regrowing
even when broken.
Tea and Breath 