National Poetry Day 2017 – the boy in the shell

Today is National Poetry day 2017 so I decided to share a rough first draft of narrative poem I’m working on. Hope you like it!

the boy in the shell – 9/28/2017

the witches wanted a child
but held no want of men
or their seed
so they prayed to the sea
and loved each other in the waves
when they returned home
one of the five found a small lump below her belly

the boy was born in a tiny shell
iridescence transferred to skin
he grew up brown
he grew up rainbow

his mothers cared for him
he soaked their love in
and returned it in kind
laughter filled their small house
and outsiders, those on the road
noticed

he cared for his mothers
the boy was polite and helped others where he could
and as his mums curled into age
a town sprung up around them
folk arrived, carried by whispers and tales
they rode with expectations between their thighs

the boy did not learn his mothers magic
instead he took ordinary and made it magic
clothes he mended learned to protect
meals brought tears and joy and hope
and for some death
though those were buried quickly
the boy was good, he could be nothing else

then his mothers began to die
and the boy began to withdraw
the town had become a city
the neighbors of the boy became merchants
his labor and favors sold to make them rich

when the last of his mothers died
a crowd gathered at his home
they begged him
to continue to mend for them
to help the city thrive

“I did not ask you to come.”
they yelled and gnashed their teeth
“I cared for my mothers because they cared for me.
Now they are gone and I will be too.”

they cried out
boy
Boy
BOY

“I have not been a boy for many a year.”
they fell silent
they looked at him

finally he spoke
“I will stay…”
they cheered
but he held his hand up
“…if one of you can recall my name.”

the city took the boy as their patron
parents struggled to forget
children refused to remember\

the boy was born in a tiny shell
as he grew the shell stayed stuck to his body
at 2 it sat on his head like a cap
at 5 cupped his bottom
at 10 it covered his right eye
at 14 it acted as elbow guard
at 17 it sat on his tongue like a candy that would not dissolve
at 20 it was his pinky nail
and there it stayed
until the day he died