Travel has not been on my summer agenda, but I have been enjoying travels of my friends by scrolling social media. Recently Mo Daley experienced an amazing trip to Kenya with infamous Kwame Alexander. I held down my jealousy and let her photographs take me back to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Tanzania in 2016. Mo’s photos taken from her iPhone were incredible. You should check them out on Facebook.
I was drawn to the zebras. On my trip with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, we often talked about which animal was our favorite. It was so hard to choose. The tall majesty of the giraffe. The fierce calm of the lions. The gentleness of the elephants. But the zebras! Zebras feel like a joke from God. The contrast of black and white reflects our natural day to night rhythm. They were always seen in herds, with their friends.
I played around with the monotetra form this morning. Each stanza includes 4 rhymed lines, each line with 8 syllables, and the last line repeats the same 4-syllables. I took liberty to slightly change the repeated line. I think it adds more interest to the poem.
Monotetra for Zebras
For its black-white striped attitude,
Margaret Simon, draft
God is laughing a beatitude.
I speak prayerful gratitude.
Erase bad mood. Embrace calm mood.
Please play with words today and leave a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with your responses.
This is wonderful! I love the photo…and I too will try not to be jealous of that trip. “God laughing” makes me smile…I saw a meme recently that said something like…”when I try to miss a squirrel in the road it must be like God watching my life.”
The horizon stretches long
and wide
Grasses grow tall
beneath my stride
a savanna
morning
what am I?
Riddle poem! My students love to write them.
Linda, I love What am I? poems! Your first two lines “the horizon stretches long / and wide” immediately hooked me. Love your rhythm and rhyme. Your poem reminds me of when I taught poetry to children, I loved reading What am I? poems to them. Or sometimes I’d leave out certain words in a poem to turn it into a What am I? The students had so much fun guessing and then writing their own poems.
Margaret, I love this space and the interaction of poets here. Thank you for sharing on OpenWrite!
You are becoming quite the monotetra-er! I’m learning from you, getting ready for the Poetry Sisters challenge!
AND, I love your take on zebras!! I think God’s jokes ABOUND in nature! There is infinite variety befitting of an infinite imagination!!
Margaret, thank you for sharing a fun poem with a fun title. Your first line “For its black and white striped attitude” grabs me right away. The Monotetra seems like a difficult poem to write, but you make it look easy. Great rhyming words. Mo’s photo is beautiful. How wonderful that you had a trip to Africa with your mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Zebras have always fascinated me.
African papaya sunrise
zebras graze the plain
a herd of stripes
each unique
equine
Gail Aldous draft
Love “papaya sunrise”. How many ways can you say orange without using the word?
Very interesting poems above! Thanks to all, and for this photo, Margaret. Here is my take:
A jester’s diamonds
Or a tartan plaid
Not so bad
But prison stripe?
I would gripe…
KE – draft