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Thursday, April 16, 2009

On Seeing Sue - My "Behind the Museum Door" Poem

The poetry stretch this week was to write about something you'd find "behind the museum door." Here's my poem.
On Seeing Sue

42 feet from
head to tail

held together
screw and nail

no blood,
no heart,
no flesh
surrounds

these fossil
bones
dug from the
ground

I look into
eye sockets
bare
Sue stares
back in
fearsome glare

I shake my head
in disbelief
at sharp, serrated
stabbing teeth,

those birdlike legs,
prepared to spring
and simply
EVERY little thing
that made this
tyrant
lizard
king
You can learn more about Sue at The Field Museum.

2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your poem! birdlike legs
    prepared to spring

    Perfect imagery!

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  2. I love Sue! I live in Chicago and have seen her in person, but back when I worked at UC Berkeley I used to make special visits to the Sue replica in the natural sciences building.

    I love the breaking up of "tyrant / lizard / king" -- how it lends extra, individual weight to each moniker. A great ending.

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