This month Women Writing for (a) Change-Bloomington poets are participating in National Poetry Writing Month.  Every day we will offer up a new  poem by a writer in our community.  Check back after 6:00 pm for the Prompt of the Day and the selected resulting poem.

Today’s (optional) prompt is to write a poem that is inspired by a reference book. Locate a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia, open it at random, and consider the two pages in front of you to be your inspirational playground for the day.

Day 24,  In the Land of K by Beverly Wong  (from Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, p. 995)

Clouds of Kalongs fill the dusky red sky
Seek the ripe Kaki in the laden trees
With long brown snouts and skeletal wings
Clutch the ripe plums in their claws
Hanging upside down
Fallen Kaki strewn in bursts of fruit
The pungent scent wafts through the night air
Owl-faced Kakapo strut through
The mounds of persimmons
Glint of green wings, brown and yellow markings
Curved beaks perfect for the night feast
The lush Kanari trees burdened with heavy seeds
Limbs dangle with their offerings
The Kanarese will harvest them
To make an oil for lighting
The Kanchils stir from their rest
Their folded limbs in grassy mounds
Alert ears scan and watch the reverie
Twitchy noses, black doe eyes close
Flutter back to sleep
Kama, sings his songs of love
Sweet melodies float on whispered breeze
While Kalans dive and frolic
Their furry heads bob and skim
The surface of the gentle sea