I was inspired by Michelle Kogan who wrote a pantoum for a hippo. I recalled the hippos of my Africa tour in 2016. I’ve been reading Margarita Engle’s verse novel Singing with Elephants. I collected lines from the verse and went to work on the pantoum form. This form is like a puzzle. Michelle fit hers together with rhyme. I didn’t use rhyme. When I googled pantoum, there doesn’t seem to be a rule about rhyme or line length. The rules show that each stanza is four lines with this pattern: (1,2,3,4) (2,5,4,6) (5,7,6,8) (7,3,8,1)
The Poetry Sisters respond to a challenge on the last Friday of the month. This month they are writing animal pantoums. Our host Tricia has more about the form and links to other Poetry Sisters posts.
The beauty of an elephant’s hum-hug,
a language as common as buzzing bees,
simple as spending time with kindness.
Elephants embrace us with their music.With a language as common as buzzing bees,
I can catch good luck as it passes.
Simple as spending time with kindness,
these animals move like magical mountains.I catch good luck as it passes:
Photo from Africa is a touchstone of memory.
These animals move like magical mountains
with a touch of heavy gentleness.My photo from Africa is a touchstone of memory,
Margaret Simon, with thanks to Margarita Engle and PÁDRAIG Ó TUAMA.
as simple as spending time with kindness–
A touch of heavy gentleness–
the beauty of an elephant’s hum-hug.
Reflections on the Teche 