From Writer's Digest PAD Challenge:
For today’s prompt, write a change poem. This could be a poem about something that has changed or something that will change. Changing tires, clothes, or perspectives. Change left over when paying for something with cash. Feel encouraged to change it up today.
Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt.
The change
ReplyDeleteFor me is silence.
Words thick as tar sludge
in a pit of years.
Hardly moving.
Or single tufts of grass
at the edge of a long low dune.
Or stars in the pitch of sky
To us appearing in a pattern
But billions of light years apart in darkness.
Only gravity waves
barely detected,
slowly bend a universe
into times embrace,
pulling sparse words
near enough for a semblance
of meaning to flicker
like the hot gas of a fledgling star
beginning to flame.
Wow. This is amazing. I'm so glad you took the time to join us toay.
DeleteThe big change for me is silence, also... I sometimes become aware I hear nothing.
DeleteVery emotional imagery: words thick as tar sludge, gravity waves... love this!
“Slowly bend a universe”. Love that line.
DeleteI like this. It's a unique perspective on change, and well developed with strong imagery.
ReplyDeletePASSAGE OF TIME
ReplyDeleteYou slip from relevance into
eminence without
much notification
your words are sage
like Robert Frost or
Black Elk but
no one’s collecting them
between stiff covers if
there still are such
but folks nod when you quote
lines from movies no one
remembers and at around
the same time you find
when you look at someone
you’re wondering
what if
anything
they’ll have to say at your funeral
Powerful and whimsical at the same time. I've always though funerals should happen before someone dies so they'll know what people will say about them.
DeleteEverything you said is so true
DeleteI felt disappointed, people are displayed, words are no longer sacred, people only listen to surface level. And we still wonder if they will find any depth about us at our funeral.
Death. The ultimate change. But also the death of words.
DeleteThe Sound of Change
ReplyDeleteChange is how eternity spends her time:
“ggrurr-rrasper”, ...the groaning of earth’s great lithosphere;
“whmaha-uhbze” ...the pushing skyward of the mountain ridge;
“shill-swoll-qaheil”... the molding of amorphous shore to ocean swell.
Change is how nature marks its rhyme:
“Sisss-zizzxng”, the birthing of bud and bairn in spring;
“whahh-aahhtun”, the maturing of life by time, rain, and sun;
“rrusk-sessch, weggend”, the dying and burying at scansion end.
Change is how life steers its clockwork journey:
“ahanneh-kazeedz”... the realizing of subtle altering needs,
“lanesh-fawheemo”...the infilling of love as relationships grow,
“leigh-leigh, enzue”...The joining of creation to create anew.
Change is how perpetuity approaches finale:
“shuzz - shuzz”... the waiting for direction’s awakening;
“liknow-benozling”...the inspiring of new understanding;
“kenaf-fa-saknead”...the searching for faith, to worship, to lead.
I love the sound words. You need to read this aloud at a poetry reading some time. I should get you to go to Knoxville with me for their poetry slam after the world opens up again.
DeleteI agree - the sound words are vivid and inventive.
DeleteThis would be fun to HEAR!
DeleteThis is a good prompt and I don't feel like I've done it justice but I fell into a book today and got distracted.
ReplyDeleteThis year’s
COVID-19
spread around the globe and
we all experienced a change
of life.
It may be short but it is true!
DeleteI attempted Tad’s pattern.
ReplyDeleteI woke up
from a deep sleep.
A green luscious lawn
was etched into my brain.
I had read:
Fear of nature
had been embedded.
Avoid tick bites bullseye.
Precautions
must be taken.
Adults and children
adjust to the new norm.
Check for Ticks!
We say and do
as new habits form.
To enjoy the outdoors:
Check for Ticks!
But wait, there’s more...
A novel virus
worse than any other.
Stay inside!
Avoid PEOPLE
But wait, is this true?
“Ticks Kill Virus!” I read.
in my dream.
Nice -- I love the way you tie it together at the end.
ReplyDeleteCatching up after a hectic day before. Hope someone will read me...I'm playing here
ReplyDeleteLetting go
Spare change, big change, exchange and see,
Change is good—no bad--not needed nosiree.
I won't change my mind, oh no, that's not me,
Or maybe, I can make a change if I'm free.
Who's to say and will they? What will be, will be
I like the rhythm. I can hear it in my head.
ReplyDelete