poem, poetry

The Quill Driver

The Quill Driver

Scratch of quill on paper draws
complex arabesques on forms.

This  xerach man, dried out by heat
made leathery by the sun.

He’s gristle and bone, no itch
easily scratched, a hard snitch
to cross out despite errors.
He’s a flash in the law’s pan.

Zigzagging his way through days
avoiding deadfall and mud,
lachesism makes him wish
for a tornado’s swift kiss.
Its rough and tumble wind’s clasp,
which makes him tremble at thoughts
of those winds swirling him ’round
inside that massive cone ’till numb
and spent, his pulse races on.
He salivates for a taste
of wind-driven excitement.

Such thoughts upturn his bird cage
sets his Kookaburra free.
Jaundiced hands knocked its cage.
It flies, obey’s nature’s call
wing to branch to freedom found.
Behind wistful verses wait.

The Quill Driver inks his pen
yields to pages that call him
to write garbled lines of verse.

~ ~ ~

for Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie’s Bonus World “Alphabet Soup.”

22 thoughts on “The Quill Driver”

  1. I love the rhythm in this. And the appearance of the Kookaburra. You write and come up with amazing things.

  3. Lovely. He writes and loves it but think, he wants freedom like his bird who flew away from it’s cage. You describe his physical state well, which is not a healthy physical state. But I don’t think he is able to be free like his bird, so he writes his wishes of freedom quill to parchment. Well done Melinda. You’re a gifted poetess.

    1. Thank you 🙂 it was a great prompt. I love wordles; they offer so many interesting words to play with. It led me in a new direction 🙂

    1. Thank you 🙂 this one wanted to be told in 7 syllables. I tried to shoehorn it into a form because I like poetic forms but it resisted all attempts to tame it.

    1. Thank you! The words cam from a great prompt. I can’t take credit for them. I am just happy they spawned this little story and it has room for expansion! 🙂

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