A Crocodile By Thomas Lovell Beddoes
A Crocodile by Thomas Lovell Beddoes
Hard by the lilied Nile I saw A duskish river-dragon stretched along, The brown habergeon of his limbs enamelled With sanguine almandines and rainy pearl: And on his back there lay a young one sleeping, No bigger than a mouse; with eyes like beads, And a small fragment of its speckled egg Remaining on its harmless, pulpy snout; A thing to laugh at, as it gaped to catch The baulking merry flies. In the iron jaws Of the great devil-beast, like a pale soul Fluttering in rocky hell, lightsomely flew A snowy trochilus, with roseate beak Tearing the hairy leeches from his throat.
Bats by Paisley Rekdal unveil themselves in dark.
They hang, each a jagged, silken sleeve, from moonlit rafters bright as polished knives. They swim the muddled air and keen like supersonic babies, the sound we imagine empty wombs might make in women who can’t fill them up.
A clasp, a scratch, a sigh.
They drink fruit dry.
And wheel, against feverish light flung hard upon their faces, in circles that nauseate.
Imagine one at breast or neck,
Patterning a name in driblets of iodine that spatter your skin stars.
They flutter, shake like mystics.
They materialize. Revelatory as a stranger’s underthings found tossed upon the marital bed, you tremble even at the thought. Asleep, you tear your fingers and search the sheets all night.
My Analysis The first poem, “A Crocodile” by Thomas Lovell Beddoes, is about crocodiles.
My Poem
Sharks are mean
They will eat you up
Their scales are sharp
Their teeth are big
Their face is mean
They are scary
They are vicious
Stay away from them
They are bad
You, have, been, warned
Hard by the lilied Nile I saw A duskish river-dragon stretched along, The brown habergeon of his limbs enamelled With sanguine almandines and rainy pearl: And on his back there lay a young one sleeping, No bigger than a mouse; with eyes like beads, And a small fragment of its speckled egg Remaining on its harmless, pulpy snout; A thing to laugh at, as it gaped to catch The baulking merry flies. In the iron jaws Of the great devil-beast, like a pale soul Fluttering in rocky hell, lightsomely flew A snowy trochilus, with roseate beak Tearing the hairy leeches from his throat.
Bats by Paisley Rekdal unveil themselves in dark.
They hang, each a jagged, silken sleeve, from moonlit rafters bright as polished knives. They swim the muddled air and keen like supersonic babies, the sound we imagine empty wombs might make in women who can’t fill them up.
A clasp, a scratch, a sigh.
They drink fruit dry.
And wheel, against feverish light flung hard upon their faces, in circles that nauseate.
Imagine one at breast or neck,
Patterning a name in driblets of iodine that spatter your skin stars.
They flutter, shake like mystics.
They materialize. Revelatory as a stranger’s underthings found tossed upon the marital bed, you tremble even at the thought. Asleep, you tear your fingers and search the sheets all night.
My Analysis The first poem, “A Crocodile” by Thomas Lovell Beddoes, is about crocodiles.
My Poem
Sharks are mean
They will eat you up
Their scales are sharp
Their teeth are big
Their face is mean
They are scary
They are vicious
Stay away from them
They are bad
You, have, been, warned