Hear all about it!

Today's prompt can't be closer to my heart. As a qualified journalist and poet at heart, I can't not appreciate a prompt to write a poem based on a news article. I really like one of the suggested articles from which to draw inspiration: "Publo Escobar's 'Cocaine Hippos' May Be Restoring Colombia's Ecosystem".

There's a hippo in my lake

There's a hippo in my lake;

I lie - there's four

I bought them with blood money

just because I thought it funny

There's a hippo in my lake;

I lie again - there's six

Soon there will be many

and I wouldn't have to spend a penny

There's a hippo in my lake;

I lie - there's more

Soon, they'll all wreak havoc

in water and on shore

There's a hippo in my lake;

when I'm gone, there'll be scores

Perhaps they'll restore balance;

perhaps surprise us all.

Andrea Vermaak © 2020