Poems About Cryptids

For a recent school project, I had to create a chapbook, which is a book of poetry. For my subject, I decided to have it be about cryptids. Since not many people know what that is, I will explain it. A cryptid is a category of mythical creature that cannot be proven to exist. Bigfoot is a good example of this. Because most cryptids, if real, are just animals that haven’t been discovered yet, I decided to post some of the poems I wrote for the project. The chapbook is told from the perspective of a somewhat crazed cryptozoologist, who is someone who tries to find and study these creatures.

In my chapbook itself, I had a couple friends help me with the art for it. All the photography in the chapbook was also taken by me, and all the poems were written by myself. Here, I’ll put two poems and the creatures I was inspired to write them about. Enjoy!

1. For this poem, which is called Looped, I was inspired by the story of Bakunawa, a dragon from the culture of the indigenous Philippine people. In this story, it is said that the large dragon is constantly eating the moon, the cause of eclipses, and chases it through the sky, making it move across the sky, and also the reason behind the different cycles. This, of course, isn’t really true, but was a part of their culture and the stories they passed down. People used to go outside their homes with pots and pans and bang them around the ‘chase the dragon away’. I find it interesting how the mythical creatures people believe in tell us a lot about their culture. Here is the poem, along with my friend Maha Kamal’s illustration of the creature:

Looped

Scaled wings shuttered against the stars,

Sliding from its crevice

In the vacuum of space.

Again and again.

I chased you through the sky

Until I drifted away

And became one of the stars.

Not before we met,

In fiery streaks across the heavens,

And you vanished between my jaws.

People try to drive me away,

But I am looped,

I am stuck.

I come back every time. 

For I am the dragon,

And you, the moon, are my hunt.

2. For my second poem, I was inspired by a funny little creature I found from snooping around the inter webs. It is called a Wolpertinger, which is a rabbit with bird wings, deer antlers, and fangs like a wolf or lion. In this poem, I chose to put a lot of emphasis on the perspective of the cryptozoologist and how passionate they are about finding this creature.  I had a lot of fun imagining this creature and the things that it does, both like a rabbit and differently than one. Here’s the poem and a link to the PDF of the illustration, again by Maha Kamal.

Field Study

This creature and I

Are connected.
I’ve been stalking it

My entire life, and

I believe that

When I leave this earth

It’s coming with me,

Snuffling at my feet,

And patting down the dirt with its paws.

I’ve written an entire journal about it,

Different than this one,

Tracking its movements,

Studying it.

Did you know that its wings

Have barely enough flight to lift it off the ground?

Or that rabbits, to which they are closely related,

Run and hide when they come.

My partners have left me

To my work,

but I’ll never stop.

Me and this creature are connected.

wolpertinger