Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion is this month's second “Two-for-Tuesday prompt: 1. Write a lucky poem and/or ... 2. Write an unlucky poem.”
Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo suggestion: “Today’s prompt comes from the Instagram account of Sundress Publications, which posts a writing prompt every day, all year long. This one is short and sweet: write a poem in the form of a news article you wish would come out tomorrow.”
My news-y thoughts poem-wise — alas — are the killing of Daunte Wright and the ongoing trial of George Floyd's killer. I am working from both prompts . . . actually, three prompts because I did both sides of the Two-for-Tuesday.
Lucky Day
Today’s news:
Eric Garner
Michael Brown
Tamir Rice
Walter Scott
Philando Castile
Breonna Taylor
George Floyd
Daunte Wright
a hundred others
all found alive
but no, it was
only a dream
no such luck
I can’t breathe
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Memorial to George Floyd in Berlin, Germany
In lieu of the imaginary news in my poem, here's an actual news article that is connected to the poem's last line: “‘I Can’t Breathe’: Cases Of Black Men Dying In Police Custody Resurface Nationwide,” Forbes, June 11, 2020. (This is the source of the photo above.)
When Alan sent me his poem today, he said, "I'm writing fantasy." Which prompt(s) do you think he's using? I would say certainly the "lucky" one but there may also be a touch of the "unlucky" and maybe the news.
Colleague Praises Lottery Winner’s Good Fortune
“We’re all thrilled for him,” Dr. Jackself of the Classics Department said,
“because to know him was to know suffering.
I think we all could describe the many pains and frustrations
he has endured over the years,
and his students can, of course, describe in detail
his years of tantalizing near misses,
how editors just did not appreciate the nuance of his arguments,
how the campus review boards would question every field
in every application he filled out,
how rung upon rung of administration above him,
except the university president himself,
seemed blind to his value to the institution,
how unappreciated continued his devotion to the community at large,
often stocking the local mini-libraries
with his self-published chapbooks
neatly printed on the department’s photocopier,
and, we learned, writing Spenserian love sonnets
on the Rate My Professor webpages for our junior colleagues
in our department and in Anthropology, too.
We all experienced unabashed joy when he announced
he would resign immediately and begin traveling the world.
I believe I was perhaps the third person to volunteer
to teach the remaining weeks of his classes in progress,
and I rushed to the chair’s door as soon as I could.
Without a doubt, I can think of few things
that have made me as happy
as to learn that he will never have to work again
and that he can pursue his joy wherever he chooses.”
—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks!
Ingat, everyone. ヅ |
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5 comments:
Vince: Wow. Yes.
Hey, how to I get to be a "Fellow Blue Guitarist"?
P.P.S.: I gave you a shout-out on my Day 12 blog.
That I so wish I could be able to copy and paste....I respect your wishes....may we yet live without fear....
Bruce, thanks for the shout-out on your blog! Oh, I need to clean up that blog list. U see some have not been active for years. When I do that, I'll add you.
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