NaPoWriMo 14: How to Care for a Bunny
For my National Poetry Writing Month poem today, I wrote a "how to" poem, based on the prompt I posted at Wild Violet: NAPOWRIMO 2020 - Prompt 14
A bunny drawn with sidewalk chalk
How to Care for a Bunny
Give gentle pats
between the ears, but check first
to find out if today
he is a turtle instead, or a hamster,
or a baby chick. Ask him what bunnies
eat for lunch (a peanut butter
sandwich, with carrots).
Let him drink milk from a straw.
Understand that he will hop
a lot. Or, when he's
a turtle, crawl on the floor
balancing a pillow for a shell.
Or pile blankets into a hamster
nest. And if the days
are long, and you are stuck
inside, for months,
be glad he's not
a dragon, or a shark,
or a honey badger. Never
fierce. Only the tamest,
most playful, soft
things. This is how
he is supposed to be.
- April 14, 2020
A bunny drawn with sidewalk chalk
How to Care for a Bunny
Give gentle pats
between the ears, but check first
to find out if today
he is a turtle instead, or a hamster,
or a baby chick. Ask him what bunnies
eat for lunch (a peanut butter
sandwich, with carrots).
Let him drink milk from a straw.
Understand that he will hop
a lot. Or, when he's
a turtle, crawl on the floor
balancing a pillow for a shell.
Or pile blankets into a hamster
nest. And if the days
are long, and you are stuck
inside, for months,
be glad he's not
a dragon, or a shark,
or a honey badger. Never
fierce. Only the tamest,
most playful, soft
things. This is how
he is supposed to be.
- April 14, 2020