Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “write a poem about a particular letter of the alphabet, or perhaps, the letters that form a short word. Doesn’t ‘S’ look sneaky and snakelike? And ‘W’ clearly doesn’t know where it’s going! Think about the shape of the letter(s), and use that as the take-off point for your poem.”
Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “take the phrase ‘Social (blank),’ replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles could include: ‘Social Distancing at the Grocery Store,’ ‘Social Media Trolls,’ ‘Social Club,’ and/or ‘Social Distortion.’ Heck, flipping the script to come up with a title like ‘Ice Cream Social’ would totally work too.”
My poem today is an acrostic. If you don't know what that is, just read straight down on the left side, only the first letter in each line. I'm following both prompts today. In fact, I'm starting with what Maureen wrote above, “Doesn’t ‘S’ look sneaky and snakelike?”
Social Distancing . . . Yeah, Right
S . . . all S’s . . . they’re sneaky and snakelike.
O h, they want you to think they’re like I’s.
C lear, tall, upright, hard. They say, “Yeah,
I am an I. I am a skyscraper. You can trust me.”
A ctually, you can’t. They’re still S’s. They’re not
L eaders. They think they are. They started this
D istancing baloney. So they could be out front
I n charge of everything and everyone. Bull
S hit, I say. It’s a Democrat secret plan, buddy.
T rump is onto it. He’s not putting up with shit,
A nd we shouldn’t either. The doctors, they’re
N ot I’s, I tell ya. They’re S’s, every single one.
C an’t trust ’em. Now Trump, there’s one real
I . . . we are too. You and me, both I’s. We’re
N ot putting up with this fake news virus crap.
G o on out and party. Yeah, all good. No fear!
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Alan's poem today takes on a similar approach with the letters going down the page (though not as an acrostic) but almost animating the letters with their own personalities.
Social
The “S” suggests we’ve not completed the infinite loop and remain hanging like an
unmet high five and down low, separated, badly rendered as some old clichéd
attempt to walk like an Egyptian for a sodden high school reunion,
but “O” is all and nothing at the same time, an expression of wonder, a call, a
preparation for a poetic apostrophe, but complete, although one might argue that
it considers itself all-in-one on its own, though empty,
as the “C” somehow fails, either empty and spilling out, or empty and agape, ready to
bite
into the “I,” which stands rigid, unyielding, and hardly belonging in the word “SOCIAL”
at all, in visual opposition
to the “A” in its heroic posture, not the intrusive wide-seated stance of a U. S. Senator in
an airport but the steady, braced stand emphasized by serif feet, accompanied
by the “L,” which offers an empathic gesture to the future, forearm extended, palm up
with slightly curling fingers, a genuine invitation even a newly whelped puppy
can recognize, slightly wagging its tail like this word, whose last third offers the
only friendly part.
—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare! And Happy Shakespeare's Birthday, everyone!
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 |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment