Turtle

[Erthona]

Turtle not a turtlecoo

My daughter’s male turtle spends
the day trying to escape the tank.
How typical!
 
 
–Erthona
 
©2015

[Brownlie]

Turtle
 
My daughter’s male turtle spends
the day trying to escape the tank.
How typical!
 
 
–Erthona
 
©2015

Well, that's definitely what turtles seem to be doing all day.

[Erthona]

Ha! Brownlie you always save me from getting no responses. It is much appreciated.


Dale

BTW, if you have a poem up that you want me to read, please feel free to PM me. Oftentimes it is not that I do not wish to read, it is simply that it has gotten by me.

[srijantje]

I like"how tipical"
could also have been"it's cold outside"

[Erthona]

SJJ

That too!

Dale

[ellajam]

Turtle
 
My daughter’s male turtle spends
the day trying to escape the tank.
How typical!
 
 
–Erthona
 
©2015

You could condense it to something along the lines of

My male turtle
relentlessly attempts escape.
How typical!

[bena]

mine shall be more compact!


uncircumsized
head turtle
retreats.

[Erthona]

Sorry girls, this is no turtle dove, that is to say a turtlecoo. Which is to say it is as condensed as I want it. Nor did the turtle "retreat." It is not my turtle. I understand your zeal to insult males of any species, but turtles are where I draw the line. Geez you could at least made a play on turtleneck.  If you wish to denigrate the female turtle, please do so. All she does is bask on the rock all day long. You may satirize away


dale

[RiverNotch]

Maybe we're the turtle, and we're the ones who, in going through the motions of everyday life as if there's no problems in the world at all, like famine and terrorists and sexism and really bad alternative rock, are trying to escape our cages by pretending there ain't no cages, and maybe your daughter here is the mother earth, who keeps us all in these cages because she is who she is, a daughter who likes keeping pets, a daughter of the Father, of oblivion, and the last line is ultimately a rejection of this stupid cycle, by simply admitting that everything is useless, and that whatever goes goes, that all is, from a cosmic viewpoint, "typical"?

Or maybe I just need some sleep....

[srijantje]

yeah,go to sleep,you're hallucinating

[Erthona]

RiverNotch,

On the surface level this was just a poke at males in this society; alluding to the idea that all males are the same, whether human or turtle. I have not consciously written much in the way of symbolism, specifically 1 to 1 symbolism like you discuss since my twenties. However, the way I write is not generally based on my conscious thinking. I consciously start the poem based on an idea/inspiration, but I do not plan the poem out, I just start writing. So there can be many things in my poetry that I am not consciously aware of.

srijantje  is one to talk, he constantly lives in an altered awareness, he can't help it, that air up there does something to a person.  He writes too many inspired poems for him to be able to do so consciously. He is simply not that smart   

Dale

[srijantje]

yes,there's some truth there,not much thought is going into it,it's more spur of the moment

[monmac]

Is it a haiku?

[RiverNotch]

Oh, ABSOLUTELY important question:
what kind of turtle is it?

[ellajam]

How large is the tank?

[Erthona]

"Turtle" the poem is not a turtlecoo, besides I never write haiku, at least not on purpose.

However turtlecoo is a pun. turtle->turtle dove->turtle dove coo

RN: Red Ear Slider

Ell: 10 gallons, hope to move to at least a 15 gal. tank soon, but money is tight. Gracie says hi, George is still trying to escape...of course.



dale the turtle rider (I always keep my turtle spurs on)

[rayheinrich]

The little glassy-eyed creatures may look cute and harmless, but small turtles can make people very ill.
Turtles commonly carry bacteria called Salmonella on their outer skin and shell surfaces.*

More:

People can get Salmonella by coming in contact with

   turtles or other reptiles (lizards, snakes)
   amphibians (frogs, salamanders, newts)
   the habitats of reptiles or amphibians, like cages, tanks and aquariums

Salmonella can cause a serious or even life-threatening infection in people, even though the bacteria do not make reptiles or amphibians sick. An example is the 2007 death of a four-week-old baby in Florida linked to Salmonella from a small turtle. The DNA of the Salmonella from the turtle matched that from the infant.

People infected with Salmonella may have diarrhea, fever, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and headache. Symptoms usually appear 6 to 72 hours after contact with the bacteria and last about 2 to 7 days. Most people recover without treatment, but some get so sick that they need to be treated in a hospital.

*Quoted from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Consumer Update.

[ellajam]

Garage sales are good for pet equipment, just look for the lawns with tiny headstones scattered.

[Erthona]

Ray, Thanks for the heads up. Salmonella, yep, know about that. I and my daughter both wash our hands very well, even if we are only getting our hands in the turtle water and not touching the turtles. It especially upset the male as he only has one eye that works, the female seems pretty OK with it. She only handles them about once a month now.

Ell, great thought, but I have no transportation that would allow me to go garage sale hopping.  

Also they live something 30 years I think, although people are always trying to unload fish tanks.

They are very like humans, even in their mating rituals:

"Courtship can last 45 minutes, but mating takes only 10 minutes."  Sounds about right

dale

[rayheinrich]

... "Courtship can last 45 minutes, but mating takes only 10 minutes."  Sounds about right
dale

Yes. When compared to humans, turtles (another stereotype confirmed) are quite slow.