Day 14 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2018

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: "Dream dictionaries have been around as long as people have had dreams. Interestingly, if you consult a few of them, they nearly always tend to have totally different things to say about specific objects or symbols. Dreams, unlike words themselves, don’t seem to be nicely definable! At any rate, today’s prompt is to write entries for an imaginary dream dictionary. Pick one (or more) of the following words, and write about what it means to dream of these things." Teacup Hammer Seagull Ballet slipper       Shark Wobbly table Dentist Rowboat Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: "For today’s prompt, write a report poem. I know, I know: Writing a report sounds about as far away from poetry as flying is to a penguin, but many poems report on a moment or an instance or a scene. In your poem (or poems) today, report on something big and important or small and inconsequential (or small and important–or, well, you get the idea)." Today's poem is more of a spinoff from these prompts rather than directly inspired. Not a dream dictionary but dreamlike, though the title rejects that. A report of sorts, I guess, in the sense that it's a telling of a dream, not a re-telling exactly. Also a Michael Heffernan–style sonnetina. Report: It Wasn’t a Dream The hammer smashed the teacup. The shark tried to eat the seagull. Under the wobbly table, a ballet slipper. The dentist arrived in a rowboat. The shark swam under the rowboat. On top of the wobbly table, a teacup. The dentist picked up the ballet slipper and the hammer to give to the seagull. “What is all this?” asked the seagull. The shark climbed up into the rowboat. The dentist sailed away in the ballet slipper. The hammer screamed with the teacup. Sunset. Teacup. Moonrise. Shark. Seagull. Rainbow. Rowboat. And yup, ballet slipper. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] I was attempting to get a dream-like feel through surrealism, through juxtaposition of disconnected detail. I wanted the various characters, the shark, the hammer, the dentist, the seagull, the teacup, etc., to take on a weird kind of life of their own. Frankly, I'm not sure what to say about this weird little poem. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don’t find the word “comments” in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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