Maxine Kumin exercise :  writing a Villanelle... if anything, yes, you learn a lot!

I never would have thought I would ever write about musk ox!  Thanks to Donna, David Michael and Kathy for presenting the inspiration from the Dodge yesterday!  In our group, we all were aware that we were using up our "three time" rule... hmmmm.  in this Villanelle, I used up one of my throws at "passion"... All best to all.

Kitty Jospe

Survival

What last word would you say, should today be the day

what passion will ax the sound in your throat

like a  musked ox kissing a saber-toothed stray?

This Pleistocene beast almost died away

in spite of 4 stomachs and a thick wooly coat.

But the question remains: what to say if today is the day.

Imagine if the ground sloth or mammoth, mumbled away

crashing extinct before bridging the moat

as the musked ox kissed them and the saber-toothed stray.

But back to ox to ox: scimitar horns  have their say

under helmeted boss lowered to protect the throat.

The male wins his mates, un-saber-toothed, not stray.

The abandoned tiger had not quiviut to warm him on his way

unlike ox harem, swelling under  five-pound coat.

What last word would anyone say should today be the day

It is not musk but compelling must do we think the way

to survive like lost sailors thrown out of their boat

without thinking, what last word to say (should today be the day)

what kiss to give, musk-ox-like, to that outgoing tiger stray.