Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Monday Poetry Stretch - Bat Poetry

Mea Culpa, mea culpa. I'm late again. So, without further ado, here's what I've been thinking about.

My son wants to dress as a vampire for Halloween. While I have been working overtime to convince him that there is no connection between fictional vampires and bats in the animal kingdom, I am failing miserably in my endeavors. In my efforts to convince him otherwise, we have been reading lots and lots of books on bats, including The Bat-Poet by Randall Jarell. Here is an excerpt from the poem the little bat recites.
A bat is born
Naked and blind and pale.
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
And catches him. He clings to her long fur
By his thumbs and toes and teeth.
Here is another poem excerpt, this one is an excerpt from D.H. Lawrence's Bat. You can read the poem in its entirety here.
Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly.

Pipistrello!
Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe.
Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive;

Wings like bits of umbrella.

Bats!
So, are you feeling a little bit batty? Will you join me in writing some bat poetry this week? Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll post the results later this week. If you want to read some additional bat poetry for inspiration, check out this Poetry Friday post on Bats.

3 comments:

  1. I have found the most AWESOME bat costumes -- easy-peasy to make, and cheap. One is actually more anatomically correct for a bat's wings, and the other is a little easier for a kid to wear.

    Good luck with the vampire vs. bat thing...

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  2. P.S. - I really *love* the Lawrence poem! D.H. Lawrence and bats! Who knew!

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  3. That seemed to do the trick, Tricia. Thanks! You can find my bat poem here:

    http://havingwrit.blogspot.com/2008/10/bats.html

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