constructing poetry

year of the dragon

the great wyrm
sends her talons over the earth,
capturing it,
desperate for more
treasure to be gathered to her heart—
gold and precious things,
and beauty and grace
and most of all,
stories, tales wafting
from every fire and every bardic tongue
to gather beneath her wings.
there is no trivial tale.
she is greedy for all,
swallowing them whole
lest she shrivel and die
from their lack, but the irony is,
her tale could be the greatest
of all, but her armor
drives away knights
and princes, and poets
and dreamers, leaving her alone
on her horde—gold on her tongue
and songs ringing
in her ears.

Prompt ▼

Prompt for: Feb 8 (Ren)
Subject or Theme: Chinese Zodiac...look up your year if you don’t know it and then describe yourself in terms of your animal traits. Chinese Zodiac . Title of your poem must be: “Year of the...” (whatever your year is).
Word(s) to Include: desperate, irony, shrivel, trivial (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): your Chinese zodiac (only use in the title, nowhere else), I, me, my (or any derivatives of these words)
Additional Parameters: Please be descriptive ~ no line or word count.
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.


I was born 7 February 1977. Even though 1977 is the year of the snake, I was born before the Chinese New Year, so I among the last of the fire dragons born that year