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Dragon with Fish
(a children's ekphrastic poem)*


Such a fat, friendly stripy dragon,
antennae half its body length,
big feet and a goofy grin,
itty bitty wings—no way she could fly,
but there she is, above the clouds,
frolicking with a winged fish, and one
with a head-mounted propellor;
but the cat with a jet pack
decided not to hang around.

Far below, fields in summer colors,
stripes of green, orange, red, and yellow,
delicious crops, I’m sure,
but I don’t know what they’re growing,
those people who live
in the red-roofed farmhouse.


*Ekphrastic poems are based on works of visual art. This one, by my wife, Sheila Kopaska-Merkel, is a colored-pencil drawing above my desk.)