Thursday, April 22, 2010

Behold: The Flinch!

I'm back on the National Poetry Writing Month Poem-A-Day Challenge, at least for tonight. I've been in a major slump...severe allergies and bad knee pain be gettin' a bitch down, homies! Seriously, though, I've had some real issues with fatigue this last week, and I'm not sure where it's coming from. I have my suspicions that it's been a combination of nutritional deficiency, chronic pain, and allergy medication, but who knows, and really, who cares? We have far more interesting things to discuss, like a just-discovered (by me!) species, the Flinch! (From today's Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo challenge, "Wordle": use the following words in a poem: rust, reverberate, pepper, saffron, flinch, crow, squall, dizzy, tomorrow, emporium, and tendril).

The Flinch

Behold the Flinch,
rust-feathered, shaking
his tendrils of pepper hair,
dizzy in the throes
of his own hot squall: a fierce crow
that reverberates
loud as an emporium.

No pithy raven be this Flinch,
no breathy
hummingbird, come to bring you portents.
The Flinch, though rare as saffron,
screams us warnings of tomorrow--
lists for us the wards that we must carry.

Should you encounter such a creature,
heed it. No one is more knowing
than the much-maligned Flinch. No one
could advise you
better in these times.


--Kristen McHenry

9 comments:

flaubert said...

Kristen,
Scary flinch! I hope you are feeling better and I have missed reading your poems.
Pamela

Kristen McHenry said...

Thank you, Flaubert! Nice to see you here :). I've missed reading everyone's poems this last week, too, but I think I can finish out most of the month of the challenge. I am feeling a little better today.

Anonymous said...

wow! new species research AND the words from the wordle -- way to jump back in (gingerly! with that knee!).

:)

ha! my word verification for posting this comment is: "corubble". that should mean something ...

Wayne Pitchko said...

glad to see your words again...always written so well..thanks again for sharing....and this family of poets..do CARE....so take care...eat well..lots of green T..and maybe a short brandy at bedtime....cheers

Dale said...

The very first poem I memorized went like this:

The ways of the Slump are secret and strangerous;
I'd like to have one, but Mom says they're dangerous.


I'm thinking the Slump and the Flinch sound like (okay, maybe distant) kin.

Erin Davis said...

This flinch is one fascinating bird!

Robin said...

Very cool post! I think you've done a great job with this prompt. The Flinch is definitely a scary creature, for sure, and I will heed it. In the meantime, take care of yourself;

40licious said...

You are making me completely and totally and absolutely fall in love with poetry. Thank you. It brings breath into my day.

Robin said...

completely clever and fun! Thanks for this one -- and hope you are feeling better soon. :-)