The bear within me rubs its snout
it fidgets and growls -trying to get outI never release this powerful bear
more-so, because I pass well enough as a deerI freeze and cower when headlights appear
never letting anyone know what’s buried in hereI haven’t tamed him- not yet, you see
I fear one day- he’ll come bursting out of me
©Vivian Zems
Kim hosts Real Toads today. This weekend the challenge is to write a modern poem in heroic couplets about a favourite poet or one of their works. I’ve chosen to refer to ‘Bluebird’ by Bukowski. The bluebird symbolises happiness. My animal totems are the deer and the bear.
I’ll also be linking this to
Smell The Coffee 
March 25, 2018 at 12:48 am
Nice work Vivian. Thanks for ontroducing me to Bukowski.
Much🌼love
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March 25, 2018 at 11:13 am
Thanks Gillena . .. I’ve been reading all his works. He was raw and real in so many ways.
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March 25, 2018 at 7:45 am
Bukowski is a great choice, Viv, and I’m impressed that you know your totems! I imagine that bear vividly, rubbing his snout, fidgeting and growling, and equally the deer in the headlights. But I think I’d take cover when the bear bursts out!
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March 25, 2018 at 11:11 am
Thanks Kim! A great prompt. I keep the bear fed and watered…but for how long?
Hope your voice has made a return😄
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March 25, 2018 at 9:15 am
Brilliant, in many way
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March 25, 2018 at 11:10 am
Thank you!
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March 25, 2018 at 9:43 am
Oh yes the bear within and the deer that masks it… nicely done!
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March 25, 2018 at 11:10 am
Thanks Rajani 😊
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March 25, 2018 at 10:31 am
I do remember childhood days dreaming of what I would really like to be. Bears were pretty high on the list but in the end dogs were my favorite, much like humans but on holiday all the time and usually being fed before everyone else!
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March 25, 2018 at 11:09 am
Lol!
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March 25, 2018 at 10:55 am
Excellent choice, Vivian!💖 I can visualize the bear “rubbing his snout, fidgeting and growling.” 😊
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March 25, 2018 at 11:09 am
Thanks Sanaa!
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March 25, 2018 at 12:35 pm
Love this. How did you find out your totems? I think I might have deer, too, because I’ve always felt drawn to deer since I was a child.
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March 25, 2018 at 1:04 pm
Love the imagery. And, for some reason–perhaps my love of wildness–I don’t fear the bear. Not one bit.
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March 25, 2018 at 1:29 pm
Such a contrast between bluebird and bear! Both are interesting, moving poems.
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March 25, 2018 at 1:56 pm
I love this poem. I think we all have these ‘deer’ and this ‘bear’ personas. Sometimes, I think, it is necessary for us to let the bear in us surface! I will have to read some Bukowski and think about my own totems!!
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March 25, 2018 at 2:53 pm
Two fabulous totems….I have recently been letting my inner hidden totem out….
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March 25, 2018 at 4:57 pm
Hope it’s not causing trouble!😊
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March 25, 2018 at 4:10 pm
I love the idea of an inner bear. It is intriguing that your totems are bear and deer. Loved this poem.
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March 25, 2018 at 4:55 pm
Thanks Sherry😊
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March 25, 2018 at 4:21 pm
The bear and the deer are such contrasting totems, but maybe we each have to have both hunter and prey inside.
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March 25, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Some of us have one..others two.
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March 25, 2018 at 6:23 pm
Sounds like you have hidden your Teddy Bear. He probably does want to come out sometimes.
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March 25, 2018 at 10:31 pm
With all that growling…I don’t think there’s any ‘Teddy’ there!
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March 25, 2018 at 6:58 pm
Ah !, I wonder what will happen when it bursts out…
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March 25, 2018 at 10:30 pm
I don’t want to find out. Have to tame him first!
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March 25, 2018 at 7:26 pm
Very, very cool. May your beasts make friends with each other and you. Thanks for the video, too. What a voice! “I haven’t quite let him die . . . “
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March 25, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Thanks Susan… I hope my beasts do…They’re so different. And yes.. the video is mesmerising 🙂
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March 25, 2018 at 8:19 pm
One of my favorite poets…and you too 🙂
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March 25, 2018 at 10:27 pm
awww…thank you 🙂
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March 25, 2018 at 9:09 pm
Nicely done!
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March 25, 2018 at 10:26 pm
Thank you 🙂
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March 25, 2018 at 11:00 pm
This is very cleverly rendered. It is imbued with the lightest touch of droll humor – and yet – it speaks to a level of personal insight that is, in its way, quite profound. Awesome writing!
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March 26, 2018 at 1:27 am
Thanks, Wendy 🙂
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March 26, 2018 at 1:17 am
Beautiful work, Vivian. Bukowski is his own person.
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March 26, 2018 at 1:27 am
Indeed!
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March 26, 2018 at 5:21 am
I liked this Vivian. The things, creatures, we can have within us. The deer, though a bit eerie, is much better than a bear or alligator. Graceful and elegant, not harmful.
..
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March 26, 2018 at 9:40 am
Good insight, Jim…glad you liked it
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March 26, 2018 at 7:33 pm
Monday WRites 147 is live; i invite you to link in
much love…
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March 27, 2018 at 9:40 am
Thanks Gillena… I’ll definitely do so 🙂
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