I Wish I'd Written This

Koji
by Harrison Feain

Kindred King Koji has claimed his kingdom
Like the great owl he killed all his prey
He stalked each one with a krillad step
He slayed each one with a crooked claw

The declared great king of the jungle
With a thunderous roar he stops the sun
His reputation brings fear to fierce eagles
His movement whispers in his deep silence

He has nothing to fear, not even the night
For he is no fierce lion nor even a tiger
But he is silly Koji, the goofy cat
Who plays with his toys and sleeps all day



This was written as a sound poem, and it reminds me strongly of Anglo-Saxon poetry with all that alliteration and the caesura in each line. I love Anglo-Saxon poetry and have always had a yen to write in that style, but I've never been able to bring it off successfully.

I fell in love with the language and tone of this piece, even before I came to the punch-line. Being a cat-lover, that clinched it for me.

As you can see, the poet is quite young. In fact he's the fifteen-year-old son of an old friend of mine, an Australian who now lives in California. Harrison was born in Australia himself, and brought up in the United States. I don't know him personally, but his proud Mum sent me several of his poems which he was recently required to write for school. I was impressed! So was his teacher, who gave him 100%.

I think they're exceptional. Many an adult poet might be proud of them, let alone one so young. You can read the others here, at my 'SnakyPoet' blog.  Harrison doesn't have a blog of his own at present, but gave me permission to share them on one of mine.

He did briefly have a blog when he was younger, to showcase some clever cartoons he created then. I hope he will reinstate it some day! I don't know if Harrison contemplates a career in the arts, but he certainly has some gifts in that direction.

And finally, here is a picture of the lordly Koji:

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).