004: Poem + Prompt
a Heather Christle poem about a tooth
Heather Christle
"The Tooth"
Two men share
one tooth. From
one tooth the men
predict the world.
Thank you! or
we would not exist.
Two men and one
tooth is not a problem.
One man is wide
and one man is sober.
Sometimes the men are
the same. Little tooth
is the light of the
orchard. From
it all things are
made up. Once
the two men lost
the tooth and every
one disappeared.
No one was angry
because no one was
there. The men
found the tooth
when the tooth
started laughing.
The men said what
is that noise and
the world came
back on. They told
the tooth that’s not
funny but it was
very funny. One
man swallowed
the tooth and put
on all the sad
knowledge.
He wanted to
punish the tooth
but the tooth
punished him. It
lasted three hours
and then he threw
up. The two men
live in a cave with
bay windows. To
be in love is so
solemn think the
two men once
a year. The tooth
never thinks any
thing. It is the
tooth of a goat.
via Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148087/the-tooth
Prompt: I love this poem so much. Like Christle's tooth, create your own strange biblical tale. Think of the dawn of civilization, with only a few characters and an item or two. Like a moose heart. Or a toenail. Have two characters interact with this decided item. What happens when the full moon shines? What starts to leak and bleed as the dream finds its way into the goat's open eye? Inside the whale's licked clean rib cage? Start with couplets, but feel free to break the form once you find your rhythm.
Be On The Look Out - Criminal Walking
(an AKA John Doe Poem)
John Doe was last seen in Heaven’s Cloak Room, putting on Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors. This coat was not his coat and was not the coat which he wore on arrival. It is a simple theft, a clear violation of the Eighth Commandment.
In addition to the colorful nature of the coat he is wearing, Doe will be easily identified by his walk.
Doe, nestled in the branches of his family tree, was predestined and foreordained since the world’s beginning, to walk bowlegged because the grandfather, of his grandfather, rode horseback.
John Stickney