30 Poets/Day 2 - Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Joseph Bruchac

Looking at the great stuff from Rebecca Kai Dotlich (2009) and Joseph Bruchac (2010) below, one could think that all April 2nd poems have animals involved. I believe that's just a coincidence, however. Poem any way you'd like today.

Midnight Stray
by
Rebecca Kai Dotlich

She stared at me from where she sat,
one matted lump of fragile cat
who wore a grayish tattered ear --

she heard me whisper cat, come here.

A squint, a lick, a paw so small,
she did not move or purr at all --
just skin and bones and stars above her.

And that is how I came to love her.

©2009 Rebecca Kai Dotlich. All rights reserved.
Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Click here to see the original posting. 

---

    Bear Path
          by
Joseph Bruchac

All of our people
tell stories about you--
how you move
through the woods,
how you know
all the trails.

You walk quiet, move slow
but when your young ones
are threatened, your roar
is as strong as a storm wind.

We all have tales
of how you took pity
on human children
when they were lost--
how you took them in,
how you helped them survive.

Older relative,
we humans do well
when we learn to walk
the same path you walk.

© 2010 Joseph Bruchac. All rights reserved.
Click here to see the original posting.

Yesterday we had poems from Jack Prelutsky and Alice Schertle. Tomorrow... Charles Ghigna and Laura Purdie Salas!

Click here for more information on this year's 30 Poets/30 Days including how to follow along.