Third Place Winner, October 2001 InterBoard Poetry Competition

Poetry

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Poetry

InterBoard Poetry Competition

Third Place Winner, October 2001

THE PONDEROUS GALAPAGOS TURTLE
Charles Levenstein
(Wild Poetry Forum)

The ponderous Galapagos turtle
lies on his belly,
munches greens,
contemplates time,
how wondrous it seems:

When I was a youth
did I stand on my feet,
arms akimbo?
Did I despise my fat parents
and the rocks from which they came?
Was I a boy preoccupied with copulation?
Did I join up to save the nation?
Did I develop a sneer?
Did I know why I was here?

Of course not.
Turtles don't go on the road,
we enjoy our isle,
reproduce in a pile,
then eat a lot,
or as much as we can get.
Kelp's not boring,
plenty to do right here
without running off.

Poor humans with their cameras.
And the wheel.
And the sail.
And fire, of course.
They start out stupid and must be tended,
rear ends wiped, clothing mended.
At twenty, though, they know
everything there is to know.

Time seems slow on my Galapago.
I swim, I think,
I have another drink.

Thus spake the turtle,
beached on his belly.
Time has not made him particularly wise
and he's become too tough to eat.

Judge Joan Houlihan's comment: “Lovely, meditative piece couched in the humorous persona of a turtle. Very well-crafted and polished with an effective use of repetition and rhyme throughout. An up-to-the-minute Aesop's fable.”