Write an ode or elegy to a now extinct animal, without ever saying the animal’s name—this rule also applies to the title. ...

Autumn’s breath weaves chill from spine

I found a dead body in the woods.

Its scent bleeds forth from molded ground

Her skin was white, she wore a frown.

Whence fox feet trailed a buried line

Her body lay bare, lips soiled with grime.

Through brush recoiled where once bound.

Clothed in my shadow, uttered no sound.

Hangs from branches like withered bats

In teeth, they found her...

Animals can navigate

By memorizing stars

Pigeons feel through earth

And whales hear from afar

My mind so numb and worn

Cannot see through its own skin

My eyes don’t catch the moonlight

My wings don’t catch the wind

I’m falling through the ground

I’m silence in a scream

My hands are dead and withered

My eyelids never dream

Cantankerous heart

Tore itself apart

Unrelenting mind

_...