*

*
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Saturday, April 13, 2013

On Uncovering an Earthworm



Yesterday was one of those perfect early spring days,
the kind of day so vivid
the colors announce themselves with exclamation points
Green!
Pink!
Purple!
The daffodils were so yellow (Yellow!)
that they put to shame anything else that dared
call itself yellow.
It was that kind of a day.

I was weeding the flowers beds
and pulled up a particularly stubborn clump-
weeds, roots, dirt-
and revealed an earthworm.
The soil was still cool,
and the earthworm was still sleeping
when I suddenly and rudely removed his blanket.

I imagined him yawning,
rubbing his crusty eyes,
and saying, “What the hell?!!”
I apologized
and quickly covered him back up.
I wondered if the earthworm later 
told his wife, “I just had the weirdest dream…”

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Accessible Poetry 
(inspired by the poetry of Billy Collins)

15 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

Oh, I love the ending. You cleverly swapped the viewpoint there from poet to subject - something Billy Collins does so skillfully.

Charleen said...

This is so cute and funny! It makes me want to go outside and garden a bit.

Grace said...

I love the colors of spring, yellow with exclamation points ~

The earthworm story is delightful, ha, ha ~ Perhaps he did ~

Susie Clevenger said...

I love that colors announce themselves with exclamation points. Such a darling ending!!

Ella said...

This made me smile! I love how you turned it about...
I need to try this again!
Bravo Miss Mouse

Helen said...

If I walk outside right now, read your poem to the skies ... will Spring arrive? It's worth a try. Loved this Mouse!!

Brian Miller said...

ha what a fun write...and interesting thought as well as to what an earthworm might think of us stealing its blanket...smiles....

Kay L. Davies said...

Oh, you make me feel sorry for the worm, as you will see when you read my submission. (Pink!)
An excellent challenge, Ms Mouse. It took me a long time to decide what to do.
K

Fireblossom said...

Ha! Sleepy earthworm would not have liked the sleet we had here today.

Hannah said...

I LOVE him!!! You did an awesome job with this...smiling here..."What the hell??!" Love that!

Other Mary said...

Hahaha - that's a fun one!

Anonymous said...

Right in the spirit of Collins, the punch line, the humor within the ordinary. You nailed it, Lola. Soon I will be digging, and I hope I don't spade any worms in half, such a drag. Peace, Amy

M. A. S. said...

I love the narrative properties here and the beautiful description of yellow.

Marian said...

right on, the earthworm would TOTALLY say WTF, human?

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I absolutely adore this poem - especially "I had the weirdest dream". Love it, Lolamouse!