It’s Friday! And you know what that means: Poetry! Want to know more about Poetry Friday? Click this link right here. And be sure to check out Doing the Work that Matters to see this week’s round up of wonderful poetry related posts, blogs and goodness. 

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Hello and Happy Friday! I was walking out of Starbucks with my friend yesterday, when she drew my attention to a vulture perched on the edge of the dumpster. It was a big bird and it was just casually peering down into the smelly garbage. I wish I had snapped a picture.

We had just finished up our writing group meeting, where I talked about my creepy middle-grade story. I immediately had to chuckle because my very first thought upon seeing the vulture was “I wonder who dumped a body in there?” I guess I am just kind of drawn to the macabre. Or maybe I’m just not quite right in the brain. Either way, it makes life interesting.

I decided I wanted to write a poem about the vulture for today. One of my struggles with writing poetry is deciding on what form to write. So I keep a list of poetry forms at my desk and then a roll a die to determine which to use.

Today I rolled “preposition poem.” I had never written one before, but it was a lot of fun. I like how to story unfolds, but you kind of have to fill in the gaps too. For those who don’t know, a flock of vultures in flight is called a kettle and a group eating together is called a wake. They can also smell carrion from up to a mile away. They really are fascinating creatures.

Vultures

In a panic
Past midnight
Inside thick black bags
Over the dumpster lip
Beyond prying eyes.

At noon
From the sky
Toward the fetid smell
Onto the dumpster
With the gathering wake

© Rebecca Herzog 2019