One Hundred Years of the Turtle
One Hundred Years of Turtle
Slow-solid
steady
hard to walk
with age
old sages.
Obsession
with expensive
fabric
from Borneo.
Hard to hold
Islands on their backs:
Celebes
Sumatra
slow and strange
like Broccoli.
One hundred year old
Terrapins
ate the Jellyfish
embraced
seasonal change
alien in a way
immigrants.
All-The-Turtle-There-Was.
Elephant
stands on
turtle shell.
Tortoise
carries world
on back.
Turtle Island:
Java
Malay
Healing
wisdom.
Black Tortoise
slow-solid
steady.
Triad of turtle
covering
the infant
of life.
Grandfather turtle
“A tortoise
cannot curl
himself up
like
old and clever
Armadillo.”
To confuse
painted joy
with turtle.
Never believe
truthful tortoise
when promising
longevity.
© 2020 Jamie Lee Hamann
