Fairy

And now, here’s this year’s final (optional) prompt. In his poem, “Angels,” Russell Edson speaks of these spiritual warrior-messenger-guardians as if they were a type of endangered animal. Brief as it is, the poem is disorienting in its use of flattened diction, odd similes, and elliptical statements. Today, try writing your own poem that discusses a real or mythical being or profession (demons, firefighters, demonic firefighters) with the same sort of musing yet dispassionate tone.

The earth protrudes, where fairies lie
A tomb for a king, or for you, or I

In the shape of a ring, the earth
is unnatural, bellowed and breaking

The guardians of the mound, trapped
by circle of time, eternal return

So few remain on this island land
We have almost escaped burial tombs

When I travel to Korea, I see hundreds.

On the eve of May, the fairies roll out
their tiny towels and, on green grass of
passage tomb, they sunbathe.