And now for our (optional) prompt. Have you ever heard or read the nursery rhyme, “There was a man of double deed?” It’s quite creepy! A lot of its effectiveness can be traced back to how, after the first couplet, the lines all begin with the same two phrases (either “When the . . .” or “Twas like,”). The way that these phrases resolve gets more and more bizarre over the course of the poem, giving it a headlong, inevitable feeling.
Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that, like this one, uses lines that have a repetitive set-up. Here’s an example I came up with after seeing this video of . . . a bucket of owls.
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My poem : ‘Today, I’ll tell myself’
Today, I’ll let time slip through my fingers
and lose myself in a swirl of vaporous thoughts
Today, I’ll tether those thoughts with a string of words on a open field
and tell myself I’m feeding my muse
Today I’ll dress my muse in flowy metaphors and alluring alliterations
and tell myself I’m creating poetry
Today I’ll toss my poetry in an engulfing ocean of emotions
and tell myself it’ll serve as a beacon
Today, I’ll use the beacon to light a torch that ignites sensitivity and amazement
and tell myself that it helped make a more appreciative world
Today, I’ll hope that the world immortalizes my words
and tell myself that I am a poet
Today, I’ll dream that the poet in me is remembered long after I’m gone
and tell myself that I hadn’t let time slip through my fingers
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