Thursday, December 18, 2008

December Poetry Meeting-Library

Manatee Tale

I’ll try not to exaggerate my find
my tale will pale in comparison
to the sailors that go before me

those masters of hallucination
say they saw mermaids in a paradise
below sea level, when in fact they
saw the grand manatee, these great

mammals more matron than mermaid.
On this day at Big Ben Power Plant
I walked the hardwood planks hopeful
to catch a glimpse of this species

these gentle sea cows poked their heads
up from the green-gray waters and one
smiled,then winked at me before
submerging and as she did, I saw the tail,
a mermaid tipped her tail at me.

Judy Roney

2 comments:

Mary said...

Unique poem! I especially like the last verse and also noted how you cleverly used 'tail' and 'tale'

Victoria said...

Great manatees. I love manatees.