{poetry friday poem: after Donika Kelly}

And speaking of Susan, today’s poetry prompt comes her, and a poem she shared a couple of weeks back, Donika Kelly’s Poem To Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things. In it, the poet hearkens back to that thicc and wondrous baby hippo captured our hearts during lockdown, then turns her attention back to her own heart.

Now, I wasn’t going to do this challenge. I am truly bad with memes — some of what other people find funny or cute comes off as either sad, weird, or mean to me, and hello, welcome to my sideways brain, I guess. But then, I read Susan’s poem, and all the poems of the others taking part in the challenge, and they were so good that I thought of one meme that hasn’t left me alone.

Yeah, so – remember the viral ‘Paws-In Test’ from about six months back? I …disliked that so much (once again: weird brain. NO SHADE whatsoever if you thought it was cute. It a fundamental way, it is cute, because: dogs). The ‘test’ was owners putting their hands in a stack and silently requesting their dog to take part in their weird human activity. And some of the dogs, you could see the gears turning as they looked from one of their human pack to the next, trying to figure out what the ask was… trying to make sure that they were doing whatever was being asked of them “right.” And egads, that seemed way too much like the social tests of life for me, and all of my oh, noooo anxiety kicked in, just looking at those sweet liquid eyes, staring at the humans being …baffling, and waiting for…something… ❗

However, the point of the whole exercise is to find more in the ephemeral memes and ‘moments’ observed in the social media stratosphere, and I love that Donika begins with the word “observe” and leans in with just that – forcing us to look back and remember the delightful chonk that is Fiona, and how the posts from the zoo lightened up our hearts in a heavy time. Hadn’t love, the poet seems to realize, once done the same for her? And thus, I found my way into writing …some kind of poem. For once, it helped that I did this last minute, so forced myself to truly lean in to the mentor text: no rhyme, no wordplay, just… thoughts. (Or, vibes, no? I mean, if we’re talking memes, we are fully USING the lingo.)

“A Poem to Reminds Myself of the Inutility of External Validation”

After Donika Kelly

Observe them, seated,
facing, arms extended,
hands stacked, awaiting:

Head tilts, calculation
a silent klaxon blaring
whatnow/whatway/what’sright
as longing takes a gamble
lifts paw: a closed circuit,
validation lights up faces.

Sweet puppies, always,
forever, the goodest good dogs.

tanita s. davis draft, 2025

It’s Carol who is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today, so pop by for an apple from her orchard. Remember – there is no ‘right’ way to act. There is no ‘correct’ response. There is only you, and yours, and the choices you make to fulfill your needs. And, you. are. enough. of a majority to rule. Now, off to find your own way, you good being.

Happy Friday.