From Writer's Digest PAD Challenge:
We’re almost there. Let’s do this.
For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Total (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: “Total Madness,” “Total Victory,” “Totally Awesome,” and/or “Total Cereal.”
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 town was totaled
ReplyDeletewreckage everywhere
people plodded
miserably along
casting sad glances
gleaning bits
and pieces of lives
her home.torn
her love gone
feelings scattered
to the wind
she walked with
wild abandon
not knowing where,
what, why...how
hurricane wiped out
her lifestyle
he tore up
...her heart...
Wow. Total wipe out.
DeleteInteresting topic. Nine years ago this week, we had a tornado hit less than a mile from my house. Pix if you're interested: https://varivas.smugmug.com/201019/2011/Tornado-Damage
DeleteSad story, true? well told.
DeleteTotal Loss
ReplyDeleteWhat
happened?
There was a crowd.
I couldn’t see anything.
My view was totally blocked.
It
happened
on the way home.
I heard the words ending US.
My heart was totally broke.
Who
could be
prepared for that?
No one was expecting it.
My life has totally changed.
Why
do we
think it could not
happen to us in that way?
My thoughts were totally blocked.
Where
should we
go to be safe
from murder and reporters?
I am at a total loss.
Nicely done. My only suggestion would be to redo stanza 2 to start with "When", then you'd have a complete set - Who, What, When, Where, Why.
DeleteI was going with the implied when. I did notice that though. This was the weirdest experience. It started as one idea and morphed two more times.
DeleteCleverly done
DeleteAfter reading Linda's poem and having it come up in FB Memories, I couldn't get the tornado out of my head. So, I went ahead and wrote the poem (If I did it right, it's 5/4 poem.)
ReplyDeleteWind does indeed sound
like a freight train
in this tornado’s path.
Missed us by
a mile, precisely.
Roads blocked by rows
of trees, wires. It is two
days until
we can make the trek
to the friend’s house
where we went for Easter
last Sunday.
I had walked her yard
full of garden
envy, even the gnomes,
now all dead
decapitated,
limbs gone missing
among uprooted herbs,
vegetables.
Stairs that once lead to
a storage shed
stand alone, lead to trash,
no longer
someone’s belongings.
The pictures I took that day. https://varivas.smugmug.com/201019/2011/Tornado-Damage
DeleteMother Nature is sooo powerful. Interesting poem, well done.
DeleteTotal Confusion
ReplyDeleteWhere does the time go?
Yesterday I was a young mother,
Now I have great grandchildren.
Yesterday became tomorrow
when I wasn't paying attention.
Now I look and look to find time
but somehow it always disappears,
and I search among yesterday's dried leaves,
hoping to discover in them somehow
the time that I thought was mine.
Absolutely. You have written right out of my mind and heart. So very, very true.
DeleteThanks! I miss getting comments from the others, perhaps they don't go back and look and mine are usually the last. However, I would certainly like to continue once a week with rotating prompts.
Delete