As the finish line of NaPoWriMo looms near, it's time to tackle another of their optional prompts. This time, the challenge is to use Skeltonic verse, pioneered by the fifteenth century English poet John Skelton. Put simply, it involves the use of short stanzas mixed with a vague rhyming scheme and two strong stresses per line. Here it goes.
Walking Catfish Wanderings
A catfish goes walking
and without talking
ponders life on the jungle floor
which it has not seen before.
Its pool is dry
and it must try
to search for new pastures
and squirm a bit faster
with spines on its gills,
with which it could climb hills
as it wills itself across
the land of twigs and moss
to find a small stream
with just a gleam
of light through the leaves
and finally it heaves
itself into the flow
where no other fish can go
and submerges below the surface,
having travelled the furthest
of any fish across land,
done without any hands,
a fish with instinct so strong
its journey did not go wrong.
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