Poem about a creature dying
October 21, 2011 11:12 PM Subscribe
Asking for a friend: help identify this poem please!
Here's what she says about it:
Six years ago I was at a summer program in North Carolina and attended a poetry reading (not a reading by the author, just a reading of published poems) where someone read the first poem I ever really appreciated. All I remember about the poem is that it was of medium length (if it were printed I think it would take up one to 1.5 pages single-spaced; it took about five to eight minutes to read); the writing was full of fairly dark imagery; it depicted a strange creature that seemed to have elements of intelligence and personality, though more like a graceful wild animal than human. I remember particularly vivid imagery depicting how the creature moved--unpredictable but graceful shambling or stalking. I don't exactly remember the setting except that there wasn't much of one. It may have been that the entire poem took place in a small bare-walled room or something of that nature--the setting was bare and the creature didn't leave. The progression of the poem depicted the creature suffering and dying from being trapped, but I remember thinking that it wasn't trapped in as much a physical sense as much as this creature was the wild part of a person's nature that they were suppressing and the creature was suffering and dying, almost wilting, as a result. The behavior of the creature went from graceful and aggressive to defensive and eventually almost catatonic. I don't remember how the creature was described to look but my vague recollection is that it was a smooth mottled purple or other dark colors, and thin, almost skeletal, but highly muscled. To the best of my recollection the poem was free verse but in a non-abrupt style, sort of like very descriptive prose. If it was in any of the typical poetical literary forms it was very subtle.
Thanks for any help!
Here's what she says about it:
Six years ago I was at a summer program in North Carolina and attended a poetry reading (not a reading by the author, just a reading of published poems) where someone read the first poem I ever really appreciated. All I remember about the poem is that it was of medium length (if it were printed I think it would take up one to 1.5 pages single-spaced; it took about five to eight minutes to read); the writing was full of fairly dark imagery; it depicted a strange creature that seemed to have elements of intelligence and personality, though more like a graceful wild animal than human. I remember particularly vivid imagery depicting how the creature moved--unpredictable but graceful shambling or stalking. I don't exactly remember the setting except that there wasn't much of one. It may have been that the entire poem took place in a small bare-walled room or something of that nature--the setting was bare and the creature didn't leave. The progression of the poem depicted the creature suffering and dying from being trapped, but I remember thinking that it wasn't trapped in as much a physical sense as much as this creature was the wild part of a person's nature that they were suppressing and the creature was suffering and dying, almost wilting, as a result. The behavior of the creature went from graceful and aggressive to defensive and eventually almost catatonic. I don't remember how the creature was described to look but my vague recollection is that it was a smooth mottled purple or other dark colors, and thin, almost skeletal, but highly muscled. To the best of my recollection the poem was free verse but in a non-abrupt style, sort of like very descriptive prose. If it was in any of the typical poetical literary forms it was very subtle.
Thanks for any help!
Was it Elizabeth Bishop's The Man-Moth?
posted by bubukaba at 11:11 AM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bubukaba at 11:11 AM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: She says: "I don't remember any words or phrases... I've been thinking about it more and I'm pretty (but not completely) sure that it was written in the first person - as someone explaining how they treated this creature and what happened.
It's not The Man-Moth.
This is going to drive me crazy now - if meta filter doesn't figure it out, I'm going to try to get in touch with the camp counselors..."
posted by cheesegrater at 7:13 PM on October 22, 2011
It's not The Man-Moth.
This is going to drive me crazy now - if meta filter doesn't figure it out, I'm going to try to get in touch with the camp counselors..."
posted by cheesegrater at 7:13 PM on October 22, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
As a last resort, can you track down the facilitator of the program?
posted by Calzephyr at 10:16 AM on October 22, 2011