Building a Frog

by Abby Wendle

10/04/2011

We visit a group of campers who read “Building a Frog,” an evocative poem by John Wooley. With the sounds of the forest, cicadas, crickets and frogs in the background, the campers reminisce about going frog “gigging”–otherwise known as hunting for frogs with tiny spears. Tastes just like chicken!

Building a Frog by John Wooley

Guide the scalpel
with milk-wrinkled hands
fine-honed point tracing
delicate veins.
Gently peel back
transparent membrane, expose
organs, vessels.
Rest briefly, balance the point
on the tiny nerve
that runs down the leg
to the splayed foot.
They feel a sudden twitch
and jump
little wavy lines dissecting
all the ponds
in the universe.