Into Every Life a Frog Must Fall
I wanted a frog
in my garden,
I wanted his voice,
his splashing around,
when one appeared
I scorned him.
Was it my aversion to
nictitating membranes
slipping over
blinkless eyeballs,
or webby-toed
sticky suctions, his
unforgivable froginess?
There are other things
that look like frogs –
flowers in green paper,
rumpled blankets,
a crumpled letter,
tear-soaked Kleenex
looks like a frog,
his pond-green Peugeot
leaping away.
Wanda McCollar
This is very good, Wanda. I love the mix of science and anti-science in the second stanza:
ReplyDeletenictitating membranes vs. unforgivable froginess
And then in the last stanza, things that look like frogs, as it ends with his pond-green Peugeot/ leaping away, our implied image goes right to the fairytale prince in frog's clothing... or frog in prince's clothing, as the case may be.
Very nicely done. I love it.
Poor froggy! He only wanted to sing you his love song... I love them!
ReplyDeleteVery unique and fun idea for the prompt.
This is wonderful. So much to be found in a frog!
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul, Cynthia, and Erin for commenting. I wrote this poem in French, worked better - I should not have translated it. Nevertheless, you were kind to comment.
ReplyDeletefrogs are wonderful....my oldest grandaughter loves frogs...and snakes..and....anyways thanks for sharing this....happy hollidays to you
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your bit of aversion therapy! Although the union-hood of brother frogs may apply for an exclusionary clause.
ReplyDeleteAnd a delightful final leap, "his pond-green Peugeot leaping away." Suspect you just might win at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee. Thanks Wanda!
I'd say it works just fine in English. Especially the pond-green Peugeot. And unforgivible frogginess. Sorry your lord lept, but better to have frogged and lost...
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful from beginning to end, but it's that pond green Peugeot that provided the perfect ending!
ReplyDeleteSuperb piece of work - frogginess descriptives are perfect and the Peugeot is a well-tuned tickle of reality.
ReplyDeleteI like the shift in tone between the stanzas; it heightens the effects, first the simple and direct then the objective and finally the metaphoric and felt, disproving poetically the seeming limitations of the froggy "truth" about frogs.
ReplyDeleteI see the human mind reasoning throughout this poem: first, the desire for the frog, next the repulsion once it is actually there, and then the mention of frog-like things that are not froggy at all. I like this. I also like your Peugeot metaphor at the end. Nicely done.
ReplyDelete-Nicole