Welcome to The Dragon’s Den

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Special Guest – James Carter!

Which creature would you be?

Today I’d choose a whale. We all need
to roam and there’s no greater space

than an ocean – a galaxy of salt water
right here on earth. And who wouldn’t
want to be that great hulk of life? To see

in sound, to talk in song, to cruise the blue
or lose yourself in endless days of play:
lurching skywards, flopping backwards,

ever huffing lung-loads of warm air
back into the world. Tell me:
which other beast is as wise

as the moon, has the heart of a star –
or a belly full of memories
from way back when?

© James Carter from Weird, Wild & Wonderful – the poetry world of James Carter Published by Otter-Barry Books (January 2021)

She watches the world
through star-gold eyes:

with awe but mostly
suspicion; she’ll sniff

at the air, she’ll wait,
she’ll listen, she’ll sense

the slightest footfall;

she’ll skulk through the night

in her old winter coat
beneath an ocean of sky;

she’ll leap over snow
with limbs as fleet

as the wind’s invisible wings;
she’ll follow the promise

of even the wisp
of a meal.

Here in my dreams,
those darkest woods,

nothing bewitches me
more than her:
that great grey wolf.

© James Carter from Weird, Wild & Wonderful – the poetry world of James Carter Published by Otter-Barry Books (January 2021)

James Carter Response Padlet

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