Dragon Sighting by Patricia Hemminger

There were giants in the earth in those days

—Genesis 6:4

Up out of the dream world

of ghosts and gardens,

pterodactyl-like dragons

flock along the horizon, honk like geese

in the mist, startle the chipmunk

sitting still as a prayerful monk.

The old rocking horse

that the children rode tilts

in the attic, neighs as they pass.

Their wings of grey skin, tough

like leather sails, thrust air

into waves that storm over ground,

knock beanstalks down, crack trunks

of ash. Thuds wake up fairies, fragile

wings sparkling like prisms that stiffen

to lift them as warthogs snort

down the path, and giants, recalled

in the Bible, stumble over the hill.

Bio

The experience of growing up in rural North Yorkshire, UK along with her science background and love of nature informs and inspires Patricia Hemminger’s poetry. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and is a graduate of NYU’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and of Drew University’s MFA Poetry and Poetry in Translation Program. Her chapbook What Do We Know of Time? was published by Finishing Line Press in October 2022.

Author's note

I have often wondered whether dragons might really have existed, since they occur so commonly in the myths of many cultures. I like a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien: I believe legends and myths are largely made of truth. Then, almost as verification of this I was reading the Bible to a friend who was losing his sight and when we came to the line in Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days it was like a revelation. Why shouldn’t there have been giants—and fairies and dragons? So this is the poem that emerged.