Do chameleons ever forget
how to change?
Do they lose themselves
in the backdrops.
Forget skins on tree branches,
upon broad, flat leaves?
Where water pools in stills,
catching light like a trap.
Do they see themselves
or just the skin they wear
shifting.
So I’ve just had a bit of surprise while scrolling through the wordpress reader! My poem ‘Until The Light Gets In‘ has been accepted and published on The Drabble. They did email me to let me know but I hadn’t check my email this afternoon and happened on my submission mostly by accident.
I do believe the dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille night is the perfect way to celebrate.
Carol J Forrester 
Love whenever things are made in questions… maybe in the end being chameleon is tiring.
Perhaps so. I’ll admit I prefer the childish impression of chameleons being able to change their appearance to match anything rather than it being temperature based and far more limited. Thanks for popping by Bjorn.
Congratulations on the published poem, Carol! Wonderful!
Love these chameleon ponderings. 🙂
Thank you on both counts. Also got a promotion at work today so really flying high this evening!
Interesting. As a former chameleon, I’ll have to examine this further.
Feel free to dissect as far as you’d like. 😀
That is a very good question. And do they sit on pink lotus flowers because they think the colour suits them better than boring tree green?
Oh Jane. I like the way your mind works. Perhaps so.
Vanity. Even among reptiles.
There may be a poem in that.
Go on. I dare you.
I give you ‘Vanity In Reptiles’ (A Quadrille)
The size six snake
three trees over,
slithered past here
last Saturday.
The iguana on fern
saw her by the pool.
Think’s she looks better
in the water.
Told the croc by willow
he should swim on.
Big boys like him
stand no chance.
Ha ha! Love it. I’ll have to see if I can think of one.
I’m surprised by how well that turned out. Decided to stick it on it’s own post. Not sure it meat with the Dverse prompt for change so I won’t add it to the linky. https://caroljforrester.com/2019/01/14/vanity-in-reptiles-a-quadrille-entirely-jane-doughertys-fault/
It’s change without being stated, so probably not. I tried and ran out of words.
Whip snake
resplendent in green and black beading,
striped vicious as a wasp,
terrifying as braided headdress,
twisted and entwined
with feathers and human teeth,
squirms and twitches and sloughs,
aghast
that this shrugged off apparel,
skin of skins,
must be how he looks.
If you want more words to play with, cut out the ‘and’ ‘in’ and ‘as’. It works well as it is though. Would you be happy for me to edit my post and add this to the bottom beneath the link to your site?
Be my guest. When I said I ran out of words, I meant a lot of words. I wanted to have that snake throwing a hissy fit.
I think it’s great without the hissy fit. I’m loving the description.
Cheers 🙂 I’ve met a few of these snakes around here and they have an unnerving way of looking at you that says, just try it.
Being the pansy I am, that’s when I back away at great speed and probably fall over the nearest obstacle because I’m not looking where I’m going.
I like them in theory, but the big buggers bite and apparently they keep on biting, just to make sure you got the message.
This is the second chameleon poem out here on the trail; love your take on the theme. As a kid, I used to think snowshoe rabbits were chameleons. I enjoy the Sci Fi “shape-shifters” now; far more versatile.
Ah I see. Well the husband’s got me into Deep Space Nine at the moment so perhaps shape-shifters are on the brain at the moment.
You wonder if chameleons ever get worn out having to stay alert to change! Great take on the prompt and particularly like the thought of them losing themselves in the backdrops .. now there’s an interesting metaphor ….
Thank you. I was thinking about the way we sometimes lose ourselves in the backdrop of the people around us.
Ah…your post here poses a question in my mind. If a chameleon is simply lying in front of a mirror, what color would it be?
… I’m not going to sleep now.
I love chameleons. They are cute in an odd sort of way. And I wonder, do they choose when to change, or is it automatic? What if they’re trying to get noticed by an agent and don’t want to blend in? 😉
Oh, and contracts on being published on The Drabble. I’ll have to check it out.
Thank you Linda. Something way back in my head is saying temperature comes into it but I can’t quite remember. Must be frustrating if you’re trying to be noticed and all you can do is blend in. Oh wait! I know that feeling too.
If you change too much to fit in with what’s around you, I think you inevitable lose touch with yourself. You have to keep a little bit of you green, or pink, or tartan, or whatever.
There more of yourself that you can keep the better in my opinion. It’s not easy but it’s better that losing it all. Thanks for stopping by Sarah. 😀
Oooh, that is very nice. Lots to think about there, and great imagery. How do we know ourselves as changed, changing, changelings.
I’m glad you liked it. Lovely alliteration by the way. I’ll be rolling the question around in my head for a while.
How does one truly change their nature, not just their pretense? Can someone really? Interesting question Carol, something to ponder…
I’m not sure any of us can change our nature, we can certainly mask it however.
Ah, chameleons be the royalty of change! I love your considering what they must think!
Thank you Beverly.
I love the idea of an existential chameleon. Imagining a smoking jacket and a pipe….
Haha, what a lovely, weird image.
I had exactly same reaction as Rob so I’ll just ditto. Loved the way your chameleon changed her skin for us as the comments rolled by.
Thank you Christine.
Congrats on the published poem. That is an interesting question – maybe they do know its only their skin changing.
Thanks. Perhaps they don’t actually notice at all as someone else suggested.
Oh my, I love the perspective in this. It seems to be so much deeper than just a lizard.
Thank you Candy. I’m glad you enjoyed the poem.
I really like your ending… Perhaps we are the chameleons who look in the mirror and wonder who we really are!??
Thank you. I think humans do have similar traits, we are very good at blending in when we need to.
Love this, you have a way with images!
Thank you very much.
It makes me wonder just how aware they are of changing.
Perhaps they just think they’re particularly luck that predators don’t notice them.
Congratulations on the published poem, Carol! This is a powerful poem!! ❤️
Thank you very much.
I like how you tried to get into the mind of the chameleon. And congrats on the published poem!
Thank you very much Abigail.
I’ve only read one post and I’m already in love with your poetic soul and your stream of consciousness writing. So beautiful. Thank you for putting your authentic self out there for us to celebrate. If you get a chance I would love it if you checked my blog out, I feel that it would resonate with you! Looking forward to reading more!