One Hundred Years of the Turtle

My name is Jamie Lee Hamann and I started writing poetry on Hubpages back in 2013. Every year I share a poem a day in April.

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