I like walking before dawn, when the neighborhood is quiet and the weekday hasn’t quite started humming yet. Yesterday’s walk was quieter than usual. Darker, too, with no moonlight. And considerably more eventful.
This little true story became a poem because of the latest prompt from the dVerse Poets Pub. De Jackson, aka WhimsyGizmo, challenged participants to write a quadrille, exactly 44 words, using some form of the word “hum.” I counted hyphenated words as a single word instead of two.
Why Not Lock Up Your Armadillos?
lacking sidewalks
I power-walk
in the street
before dawn,
avoiding weekday
traffic’s hum
in darkness
I kick something hard
— dead armadillo!! —
blood on my shoe??
overzealous sprinkler
nails me
half-mile later:
— another dead armadillo!! —
questions:
why water streets?
why not lock up your armadillos?
It was so much fun to write this poem! The “hum” part was easy. Before dawn, I’m deliberately out there before the weekday hum and thrum really get going, when school buses and commuters rush toward their busy days and make life treacherous for power-walkers in the street.
The armadillos and the sprinklers provided great material for the poem. Kicking a dead armadillo was a bit of a shock, though, and walking with wet feet because the sprinklers took their jobs too seriously was not altogether pleasant. When I saw the second dead creature in the street, I knew I had to write about this wacky, unpredictable pre-dawn experience. Seeing both poor creatures lying in the road also made me glad I wear a light on my wrist when I walk before daylight!
These remain my persistent questions:
- Why water the streets?
- And why don’t people take better care of their armadillos? 😁
Not familiar with the quadrille format? It was created by the dVerse community. The rules are simple: it must be exactly 44 words long and include some form of the prompt word.
If you love poetry and want to read more of the humdinger quadrilles, hop on over to dVerse’s Mr. Linky and check them out. Or join us! The dVerse Poets Pub is open to everyone.
©️ 2026, Glover Gardens
