Rock Star frog

a new poem for Telling Toads

The Rock Star

Ruthie Starling 

  

Dragon-toed,

rocking mildewed leathers,

he lumbers to the poolside

seeking refreshment.

This is his favourite shady dive.

Rana. Prince of the Pond.

He’s so cool,

has all the hip-hop moves

flexes clawed gauntlets

revs to leap from heron-shadow.

boomerangs to his stony bar-stool

hungry for a piece of the action.

A squint of liquid darkness

apertures his goggling gaze.

Flirt of lacy wings zooms into sharp focus.

Damselfly, beware.

In flash and snap

his tongue will flick you straight to Heaven.

With satisfied shrug

frog slides off into the blue.

Now he is in his element.

First published Fairacre Press in their Maligned Species series in 2016.

Telling Toads is a Creeping Toad initiative inviting people to submit poems, anecodtes and short stories celerbating our amphibians. More details here 

Photos by Jane Millum (first and last pics) and by Daniel Bran Griffin. More of Bran's work can be seen, here