Day Twelve On April 12, 2022 NaPoWriMo.net

“Today’s prompt (optional, as always) should come as no surprise. Yesterday, I challenged you to write a poem about a very large thing. Today, I’d like you to invert your inspiration, and write a poem about a very small thing. Whether it’s an atom, a button, a hummingbird’s egg, dollhouse furniture, or the mythical world’s smallest violin, I hope you enjoy your poetic adventures into the microscopic.”

“Princess and the Pea”, he says

when I complain about something irritating

under the sheet. It might be grit, it might be

a ripple in the mattress, doesn’t matter, if it pokes

and prods my back I can’t sleep on it.

***

Sometimes, the tiniest speck seems blown

into a large annoyance. You know the kind:

put on a shoe with a pebble or two, take a step.

See?  Nothing to do with a princess or a pea,

but everything to do with discomfort.

***

Consider the last time you had something in your eye.

A speck of dust, an eyelash: doesn’t much matter

if it made your eyes water you wanted it gone.

All very well to make cracks and mock. I hope

someday soon there’s gum stuck on his sock…

Carol A. Stephen

April 12, 2022