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PROMPTuesday: Exercise #1

April 23rd, 2008 · 7 Comments

My friend Deb over at San Diego Momma just launched the first writing exercise in what she is calling PROMPTuesday. Each week—on Tuesday, hence the name—Deb will be offering an idea to get the poetry flowin’. Now, I don’t usually like prompts and I never write poetry. But something got into me last night. (Not my husband. Alas, he was sleeping.) I followed Deb’s stated rules: I set the timer for ten minutes, kept my nonsense poem under 150 words, left my edit-as-you-go switch in the off position, and posted my results on her blog before her deadline. I was interrupted once by my Child Who Doesn’t Sleep Through The Night, which cut into my writing time. But somehow I got it done. It may be my first and last poem. We’ll see…

Your hair’s so short
He said,
Like when we first met.
Radiating spikes of
Fleshtonic heart bursts
Flew from his startling
Blues to black. And I thought I knew what he thought
But instead
The angles pierced my wrongfled thought bubble,
Filled with waves as his hand migrated
From the razor shorn neck
And seared my low back
Where it came to rest and pressed and I sucked in a stony breath
Filled with our story-ness and us-ness of who we were then.
And we took long strides
Pushing against the concrete fast where
Other lovers once scratched their
Promises into our land
With a fragile cocktail straw.

Tags: Life · PROMPTuesday · Smidgen

7 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Cheri // Apr 23, 2008 at 10:37 am

    Brava!

  • 2 Deb // Apr 23, 2008 at 11:35 am

    Like I said: if you can do this in 10 minutes, I’d love to see your 15-minute poem.

    Great work!

    Deb

  • 3 Jamie // Apr 23, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    If your words can evoke meaningful feelings, tickle the occipital lobe, and conjure imagery into it’s reader’s head, then I think you’ve found poetry success.

    Love this.

  • 4 Jenn @ Juggling Life // Apr 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    And you say you’re not a poet!

  • 5 Sharon (artgyrl) // Apr 23, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Well, I liked your first and only poem. I really like the way you described the moment.

  • 6 robyn // Apr 23, 2008 at 8:24 pm

    Awesome!

  • 7 Megs // Apr 29, 2008 at 9:17 am

    I love this. I want to do PROMPTuesday! I hope your poetry continues to flow, and that you continue to share it!

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