A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Wednesday 2 September 2009

My Last Word On Frogs

People have said to me, You seem to like frogs.
They keep jumping into your poems.

I do. I love the way they sit,
compact as a cat and as indifferent
to everything but style, like a lady remembering
to keep her knees together. And I love
the elegant way they jump and
the inelegant way they land.
So human.

I feel so close to them
I must be froggish myself.
I look in the mirror expecting to see
a fairytale Prince.

But no. It's just sprawling me,
croaking away
and swivelling my eyes around
for the stealthy heron and his stabbing beak.


I came across the work of this poem's author while in Scotland - and fell in love with it at once. He wrote many short, witty, metaphorical poems about animals and birds. I thought this delightful poem of his linked nicely with my previous posts on toads and herons. Can anyone take a stab at who the poet is?

12 comments:

Theology Jen said...

Lovely! Thank you.

Rachel Fox said...

Blogger/poet Colin Will writes about poet Norman MacCaig a lot and I have feeling I have read about via frogs in the posts too.

Yet another Scottish poet I had not heard of before I moved to Scotland!
x

The Weaver of Grass said...

I had a feeling it was either McCaig or Edwin Morgan - have looked in his complete works and it isn't him, so I'll stick with Rachel's guess.

Rachel Fox said...

I see the frogs jumped to the wrong place in my comment. Pesky things.
x

am said...

I don't know who wrote this but I like what he wrote. And frogs (-:

The Solitary Walker said...

Tho' you 'jumped' to the right conclusion, Rachel..! It is indeed MacCaig. What a fantastic poet. Want to do some more posts about him.

Rachel Fox said...

Funny! I was reading one today called 'Summer farm' that I liked very much. Evem mentioned him in my post today too!
x

TheChicGeek said...

I have never heard of your poet but this one is wonderful. "I love the way they sit, compact as a cat and as indifferent to everything but style, like a lady remembering
to keep her knees together. And I love the elegant way they jump and
the inelegant way they land.
So human." Perfect :D

I, myself, have no great love for frogs, but reading this gives me a new perspective on them...LOL
He has humanized them.

When living in the jungle in Hawaii many years back there were so many I had to squish them between my toes walking in the night. There were so many! You shine the flashlight and they freeze! LOL

Great poem.
Thanks for sharing :D

The Solitary Walker said...

Yes, and what's even better, is that he frogifies humans, too, Chic!

Jay said...

I love the poem but I have no idea who wrote it! I love frogs, too. Sadly, the ones who used to live in our garden seem to have moved away.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

I love the poem - and I love frogs too. Will look out for more of his poems.

Dominic Rivron said...

One of my favourite poets. Do you know his poem "A Writer"? I have it stuck up on the wall here.