Dragonfly

Gone is the rain, chased by sky candle. Everywhere is blooming, on bird-road the dragonfly, devil's darning needle, ear cutter, snake doctor. Earth dwellers' dreadful names you wear; your translucent wings soar in the sun. You stalk. You prey, in broad daylight. You open mouth to prey, a predator on the loose. Mosquitoes, gnats are in your noose. Flying high, you search for a mate. Rest, you must on blade of grass. In careful watch, you must; children passing by, your wings wishing to pluck. How they laugh at you, you standing on your head on the grass; tail straight, the giraffe. In the groove, in the notch you conjugate. Mating wheel clear to watch. Audible impact, the lust; teasing and fussing a dragonfly on my callaloo; oh ho! you are the tantaboo.

Comments on the Dragonfly Poem: 

Two Versions of writing a prose poem are shown below: 

Version 1

Gone is the rain, chased by sky candle. Everywhere is blooming, on bird-road the dragonfly, devil's darning needle, ear cutter, snake doctor. Earth dwellers' dreadful names you wear; your translucent wings soar in the sun. You stalk. You prey, in broad daylight. You open mouth to prey, a predator on the loose. Mosquitoes, gnats are in your noose. Flying hing, you search for a mate. Rest, you must on blade of grass. In careful watch, you must; children passing by, your wings wishing to pluck. How they laugh at you, you standing on your head on the grass; tail straight, the giraffe. In the groove, in the notch you, conjugate. Mating wheel clear to watch. Audible impact, the lust; teasing and fussing a dragonfly on my callaloo; oh ho! you are the tantaboo. 

Version 2 

The rain is gone and the sky glows in the sun. Everywhere is blooming and in the sky is the dragonfly. The dragonfly is also known by such names as the "devil's darning needle" , air cutter and snake doctor.

These names have been given to the dragonfly by people who have seen the way it behaves. People have observed that dragonfly is a predator for mosquitoes and gnats while flying in the air. 

When not searching for food the dragonfly can be seen perched on the grass with a keen eyes out for its predators. When the dragonfly is not preying on mosquitoes and other flying insects it can be seen perched on grasses in a provocative stance. Its head is down on the grass or whatever, and its tail is straight in the air like the neck of a giraffe and kids find this stance of the dragonfly to be amusing while they plot to sneak yup quietly while its head is down on the ground and pluck its wings so to proof if the dragonfly can still fly.

Structure of the Dragonfly Poem 

This "Dragonfly" poem is defined by rhythmical prose. Prose poems are set on the page in continuous sequence of sentences without line brakes. It establishes its poetic qualities through cadence, heightened imagery, parataxis and emotional effects as shown below:

These names have been given to the dragonfly by people who have seen the way it behaves. People have observed that the dragonfly is a predator for mosquitoes and gnats while flying in the air.

Parataxis is what defines Prose Poetry. Normal Prose is defined by subordination conjunctions; line breaks and paragraphs. Parataxis is a poetic device that favors short simple sentences, with the use of coordinating rather  than subordinating conjunctions. Examples of the use of paratactic syntax and as taken from poem "Dragonfly" are shown underlined in the excerpt below:

Gone is the rain, chased by sky candle, on bird-road You stalk. You prey, in broad daylight. You open mouth to prey, a predator on the loose. In careful watch, you must; children passing by, your wings wishing to pluck, tail straight, the giraffe. In the groove, in the notch Mating wheel clear watch. Audible impact, the lust 

The Simile is a poetic devise found in poems. In order to be a simile the word "like" or "as" must be present. This rule is broken in paratactic syntax: for example, take this excerpt from the prose poem, Dragonfly:

...you standing on your head on the grass; tail straight, the giraffe...

Would you not say that "tail straight, the giraffe" is a special kind of simile, the "implied  simile"? Some would say it is not a simile because it does not include "like" or "as". Some would say the phrase simply says that the giraffe tail is straight...and that would be correct. Some would say that the phrase is a  simile because it is in a paratactic syntax. You know what, the answers supplied are correct because parataxis creates heaps of ambiguity and is only used in prose poetry and not used in regular prose or rhetoric. So yes, "tail straight. the giraffe" is an "implied simile".

Bear in mind though, that "parataxis" is a poetic device that favours short, simple sentences with coordinating rather than subordinating conjunctions. Parataxis  is also refers to a technique in prose poetry in which two images or fragments usually startle dissimilar images or fragments, are juxtaposed without a clear connection. Readers are left to make their own connections by the paratactic syntax. The "implied simile" can be found in prose poetry.

Another poetic device used in Prose Poetry is "kenning" where a phrase is used to describe a common thing. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to being a riddle. Kenning can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to being a riddle. Kenning is a much-compressed form of metaphor; and object is described in a two-word phrase. Here is an example:

"Sky-candle" for the "sun"

Characteristics of the Dragonfly 

The dragonfly mates in the air in what is known as the mating wheel. The baby dragonfly is called a larva but its proper name is a nymph. It is an aquatic insect because the female dragonfly lays its eggs in stagnant water where they hatch and fly away as dragonflies.

Here are more facts concerning the dragonfly. It is an insect in the order  odonata; with multifaceted eyes, two pairs of transparent wings and an elongated body. It is different from the damselfly because the damselfly's wings are not held along and parallel to the body when at rest and its eyes are separated. They do share similar morphing skills.

The dragonfly is an important predator feeding on mosquitoes and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, wasps. Very rarely does the dragonfly eat butterflies. Stagnant water because any army of dragonflies keep hovering it. The dragonfly's egg is the larva and the proper name for it is nymph and lives in the water for a long time before morphing into a dragonfly and is therefore aquatic. Though the dragonfly is predator, birds, lizards, frogs, spiders, fish, water bugs and even other large dragonflies are its predators. 

©Paterika Hengreaves

(July 2003)