The title of my poem is Please don’t understand, and that’s why it is in Slovenian. Don’t worry, English version included. In the photos appear descendants of dragons and wolves from the last month.
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Prompt 18: “Write a poem based on the title of one of the chpaters from Susan G. Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words.”
I was already impressed with the word chpater and thought it was there on purpose. Then I had a look through her chpater titles and this one caught my eye: Please don’t understand. I was able to read this chpater in full and was duly further impressed. Two lines from it I use in my poem with thanks. They appear in quotations.
Just before posting, as the last stroke of genius (hehe), I realised that in order to not be understood, the poem must be in my language, Slovenian. But I’m good at heart so I add the English original as written.
Please don’t understand Odidi, kot si prišel. Jama je zadosti velika za zmaje in vse ostalo. Živijo v svetlobi in ne prenesejo teme. “Delaj se, da si volk, ki piše.” Volk lahko vidi v noči in si verjetno misli: “Svetloba je zadnje, kar potrebujemo.” Razumeti in biti razumljen sta težki bremeni. Prepusti ju zmajem.
Prosim, ne razumi Leave as you came in. The cave is big enough for dragons and all the rest. They live in the light and cannot stand the darkness. “Pretend you’re a wolf, writing.” The wolf can see in the night and probably thinks: “Light is the last thing we need.” To understand and to be understood are heavy burdens. Leave them to dragons.
Here is an assortment of descendants of dragons and wolves, if you believe it. The photos were taken this past month in the radius where I walk my dog to visit all the beasts, only the last is from the splendid stroll along the southern Tuscany border from this Tuesday.
For:
This day in my NaPoWriMo history (2019): An elegy for a shoe
To the other classic cream low top All Star The day I discovered the planet was getting rid of us, I was standing in the Soča river trying not to die. The river does not care for our survival instinct. The river will be here after we are long gone and will not be particularly sorry. We had been teasing her all day. Four of us in a military rubber boat with a thin floor, brazing the rapids. I was kneeling in the middle of the boat, mindful of the rocks under my knees, announcing swirls and waterfalls. It was exactly what tourists are advised against. But we were locals, sort of, from the capital, and the river was our playground. This sounds like we were ten. Actually it was more like twenty-five. When the rapids were done with, I, adrenalin-crazed but unharmed, jumped into the gloriously fresh, crystal-clear Soča. I filled a big bottle with it to take home and drink it in the capital. It felt so decadent. Then I swam to where she ran faster. And faster. I saw a rock that looked stable. I stepped on it - and the river swept me along. Just how we'll all be in time. I felt my shoe slide off, tied and all. I got angry underwater. Oh no you won’t. I gathered my strength, pulled myself to the side where the flow was weaker and breathed. You didn’t get me this time. But you got my shoe. I took the bottle home and wrote SOČA on it with big letters and drank from it for a week. I hung the other shoe in my living-room for all to see, but mostly for me. “Enjoy life,” the shoe was saying. “It’s slipping away one shoe at a time. Just don’t be a bitch about it. Don’t grab and take and think the world is here for your amusement when obviously it’s the other way around.”
I really enjoy the two together!
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Thank you, Angela, I’m glad you do. A bit of variety. 🙂
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Težki bremeni indeed. And that’s my old time fav shorts show. Of course, right?
Loved all those birds…
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Thank you, Bojana. Sorry, which show do you mean? Can’t seem to get it.
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Hahaha. What was I thinking.
I meant, sports shoes. All stars.
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Ah, brilliant! An almost mystical reflection on meaning-making and communication. It’s impressive how many conceptual puzzle piece you bring together here, even the chpater typo in the prompt. Fabulous touch to swap the titles of the Slovenian and English versions of the poem. And to name your canine portrait subjects as dragons and wolves, or their descendants. You capture their wolfy, dragony essence with such vibrancy.
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Thank you, Alana, for seeing all this here. It’s high praise. ❤ Dragons are the birds, dogs are the wolves. 😉 I felt that my spirit was off the leash today.
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Your photos are great and your poem prompted a lot of thought for me. Great match between poem and photos.
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Ahh, thank you so much, Lynette. I love to hear that it made you think.
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The last three lines had me do a spontaneous translation into my mother tongue Kiswahili and I thought they would fit perfectly on our traditional cotton fabric, the Kanga or Khanga. The Kanga is usually with printed words to convey a message or celebrate an important event. It would read “Kuelewa na kueleweka ni mzigo mzito. Waachie mizimu.”
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Ahh, how glorious is that, Gloria! Thank you so much! Is it the last four lines? Or the penultimate three lines without the dragons in the last line? 🙂 It makes me happy to know that you automatically translated it into your mother tongue.
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The last four lines.
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That’s such a clever way to write a poem…and drive the title home. The puzzle in the image drive’s one’s curiosity further and then finally the poem in English. Lovely idea!
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Thank you, Smitha! 🙂 I got inspired by the source book and the chapter with the title that I borrowed. A dragon is the symbol of my city of origin, Ljubljana in Slovenia.
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It’s lovely that you were able to connect all the three. Makes it even more precious knowing that dragon’s are a symbol of your city.
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But I did understand both 😉 ! I don’t speak Slovenian, sadly, but I understand almost everything. A beautiful poem and there are dragons and wolves in it, which is lovely. I have a miniature Ljubljana dragon somewhere in my souvenir collection.
I have to buy that book with prompts, it is great.
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Thank you, Nataša. Yes you can, because you cheat by being a Slav! 😉 I have just such a dragon here in Tuscany as a fridge magnet. Yes, I agree, the book looks marvellous and I was happy to see that you chose the same chapter title for your two poems.
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Še sreča, da vsaj kaj razumem/My luck to understand at least something.☺
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How yes no!
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I think this is one of my favorites so far. I don’t even understand English much of the time, but your words, always. (K)
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Ahh, thank you for saying this, K, and I really mean it. ❤
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I loved Bestia’s adventure and friends 🙂
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Thank you, Bushboy! 🙂 We are both a little fed up with always the same smells and sights but spring is helping.
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