April is National Poetry Month. I’m going to attempt to write one poem every day this month. Today’s poem: #3 for April 3rd.
The Pooka of Friendships
Harvey, the 6 foot Pooka, is invisible to most
Only seen by
Those amongst us who
Crave connection
Those who have an
Excruciating hunger for meaningful friendships
Those who feel as if they are missing something
Those who feel there is a hole
in the fabric of their soul
It is a craving that catches in the stomach
Raging a storm
A storm of sadness, and longing
for a special connection with others
A hunger for shared laughter
Shared joy
Shared interests
Shared life moments
A biting hunger
Felt in the stomach
In the heart
In the mind
A craving that spreads
Through the nervous system
Down the arms
Into the hands, the fingers
Crawling it’s way into the mouth
Felt in the tongue, the gums
And the throat
Down the legs, into the knees, the calves
Pooling in the ankles, the feet, and the toes
This is a craving so intense
It spills from the corner of the eyes
Dripping into the air
Floating with a determined purpose
Searching for the one who can satisfy this craving
The 6 foot Pooka hunts these cravings
Searching for those drowning in this hunger
Those who feel like they’ve been locked out of having deep and true friendships
Harvey satiates the hunger of the friendless
Appearing only for those
Whose craving and hunger
Sits with an intensity that threatens to consume them
Harvey stays with their human friends
Til the night closes in
Deep in conversation
Sharing drinks
Sharing laughs
Connecting
Dancing together
Reminiscing together
Satisfying the hunger
Others look at them as if they’ve lost their mind
They’re right
They have lost their mind
They’ve lost their minds to one another
Sharing thoughts
Like only good friends can do
Their fondness for one another
Escaping from their laughter
Rising into the night sky
Taking a place amongst the twinkling night stars
Harvey
The 6 foot Pooka
Satisfies this hunger
Keeps their human warm
Stays with them
Until they meet human friends
Creating bonds
Growing deep friendships
With roots that anchor to the soil
Anchoring even further into the core of Earth
This is when
Harvey knows they have served their purpose
The 6 foot Pooka
becomes invisible to the one whose hunger has been satisfied
Harvey begins his hunt anew
Moving on to the next
Starving human
On and on into the future
Back to the past
And back again to the present moments of life.
Camilla Downs 2024
The below is a condensed version of today’s prompt:
Write about hunger, starving for something.
A cryptic with a craving should appear at least once, either literal or metaphor.
See if you can allow the hungry animal in your poem to stand for your own hunger, and in turn, for everyone’s. Write about that hunger so sincerely that it makes very reader hungry for something.
I combined it with another prompt:
Condensed: Write a poem that recounts the plot or part of the plot of a book.
I tend to color outside the lines so I shifted the first prompt to fit what I wanted to write about, and for the second prompt, I wrote about a character in a movie. Can you guess which movie?