Jolly

Jolly was rather astounded
when the others knew
it was Jolly
and not just another zebra
grazing in the grass
as they all had black skin
covered in white stripes.
Sure the patterns were different
and the stripes thinner
or thicker in consistency
yet Jolly couldn’t tell
itself apart from the rest.
To Jolly all the other zebras looked the same
and they all grazed in the grass
just the same.

Jolly dreamt of colors
the yellow of the overly sunlit grasses,
the light blue sky,
the dark blue color of the water,
the brown of tree trunks,
and the green of the tree leaves.
Jolly imagined bathing in waters
of all those colors
because black and white
wasn’t its world
it couldn’t be
and Jolly knew
if it could dream than it had the power
to become its truest self.

Morning came and Jolly
got to work grabbing
leaves. blades of grass, and pieces of tree trunk.
Away Jolly went to the water
mixing them all
Jolly would make color
and cover itself
and be the most vibrant
colorful zebra it could be
and as Jolly arose from the color
it would stand out
the very most.

Met by the eyes of the others
Jolly full of confidence
flicked its mane
and said “it’s me
it’s Jolly!”

The others stared at Jolly
hesitant and nodded
“yea we know
because you have two thick stripes
to each thin stripe.”
Jolly looked down
the color gone
torn inside Jolly laid down.

Jolly’s mother laid down
next to Jolly
ready to comfort
“Jolly why can’t you
just be happy,
just smile,
be happy
with your beautiful stripes
and live up to your name?”

Jolly shook its head and said.
“Because you can’t wield
something into existence
that just isn’t”

I often ask for subjects to write about to inspire some sort of thought. I asked my daughter to pick an animal and my husband to choose a word any word he could think of. In which my husband chose the word Jolly, and my daughter chose a zebra. In which the above poem is what I was able to come up with. What techniques do you use to inspire you?