Thanks — glad that works.

Sounds like someone needs a new prescription. :)

I self-published a chapbook of Honduran poems (both my own, touristic poems, and a selection of poems by Hondurans, translated with Steve’s help) in 1996, but as you can imagine I’m not terribly fond of those poems now. This one is completely new, though I did mention those frogs in an earlier piece. I’ve also inadvertently fictionalized, telescoping two days into one: the frogs didn’t start calling until our second night at that campsite. Fortunately, I didn’t check my journal until after drafting the poem! Sometimes a faulty memory is a great asset.

Don’t laugh too hard…I missed the comma in the italicized line at the end…. I thought that someone named “Boqueron Honduras” wrote it in 1995! Note to self: Increase font size on page. lol

Seriously…this is another favourite.

(Can’t remember if it was Steve or his friend Sam who spotted the Rhodnius prolixus.)

Thanks. No, this is original.

Clive, I’m really pleased that you like these poems so well, and I love your conception of the book. How many more poems would you like? I know you originally proposed something quite small, but now that this poem breaks so dramatically with the pattern previously established of focusing solely on the creature, I think I’ll have to write at least half a dozen more to restore balance. Of course, you wouldn’t necessarily have to include every poem in the series, either.

So many good things in the above, not least

‘a plague of frogs has just
emerged from estivation,
their temporary coffins
dissolved into mud
& primordial lust. ‘

That rewards on so many levels. If I were an actor I would just go around all morning reciting it to anyone who’d listen. The meaning and the construction are so pleasurable to play with, the sounds… vowels and consonants… beautifully arranged in the complex miracle that is language. And the last line makes me smile with sheer, unalloyed delight.