One of my all-time favorite poems is “Turtle,” by Kay Ryan. Every time I read it, I am gobsmacked by the language, the metaphors, the internal rhyme, the enjambment. It just begs to be read aloud. Go ahead. I’ll wait while you do. The whole poem can be found at The Poetry Foundation.
Turtle
by Kay Ryan
Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places, and almost any slope
defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,
she’s often stuck up to the axle on her way
to something edible. With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish.
Am I right? A masterpiece, isn’t it?
Then, about a week ago, a Ted Kooser poem popped up on A Writer’s Almanac. A turtle poem in disguise. A worthy companion poem for “Turtle.” The whole poem is here.
Student
by Ted Kooser
The green shell of his backpack makes him lean
into wave after wave of responsibility,
and he swings his stiff arms and cupped hands,
paddling ahead. He has extended his neck
to its full length, and his chin, hard as a beak,
breaks the surf.
Very different poet, very different poem…and yet the endings of both poems speak to each other in interesting ways, don’t they?
I didn’t do a search to find out how many other turtle poems there are out there in the world. (Part of me is satisfied with just these two.) But the moon and turtles definitely share a moment in indigenous legends, and we do know that the moon has had more than her share of poems, so it stands to reason that it would be just as hard to write something original about turtles as it is about the moon. But Ryan and Kooser sure do want to make you try, don’t they?
Rose has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at (isn’t THAT a coincidence???) Imagine the Possibilities.
