"Life is the dancer and you are the dance."
Eckhart Tolle

Thursday, April 21, 2011

"Run My Hands Along The River" NaPoWriMo #21

I’m unlike all the rest who scatter for empathy

It rises high in shafts from where I seek its comfort
from coming rain, resting easy on strands of
brilliant stars bursting before me

Long-distance on the wire makes a room
turn pitch black, plastic smells like death
cradled in my hands, everything collapses
into haze as I exist in between

I extracted heinous expressions from my brain,
resolving that it would never affect me in the future

When I opened my eyes catching pinpoints paralleled
with visual stimuli, realizing it was the first time I was paying
attention to what encompassed me

Wrapped in a blanket of joy, a new life awaiting
nourishment of what’s in the world,
your smiles lit my way

I remember everything  

Music in words filling days and dreams,
looking at an evolving sky,
watching colours as sunsets change how I feel 




* A prompt by Marty McConnell that she references in this interview in http://muzzlemagazine.com 

Here's what Donna Vorreyer did with the prompt:

http://djvorreyer.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/day-18-madonna-complex/

Donna also provides interesting Saturday prompts;  visit her site.

Prompt: (stanza 1) tell us what you are not (stanza 2) say where the light comes from (stanza 3) give three details about the hardest year of your life (stanza 4) tell a lie about who you are (stanza 5) tell us something you remember involving light (stanza 6) share a good memory (stanza 7) admit to the lie (stanza eight) describe an object that exemplifies who/what you are.

30 comments:

  1. That prompt is totally beyond me. Bravo for doing it at all, let alone with such panache.

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  2. You took us on a journey through memories, good and bad - the good ones suggesting little or no regret about the bad ones.

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  3. That was a journey. I was kept guessing. But I kept reading. It was very enjoyable.

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  4. Too freakin much. What a prompt. I'd never.

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  5. That was a difficult one; you did it well.

    My favourite line (you give me a lot of favourite lines!):

    plastic smells like death
    cradled in my hands

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  6. You had me at the title. This is an interesting piece, Pamela. All of your poems urge me to read them again. Your language use strikes lush imagery.
    ~Brenda

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  7. Memory, a rich source of imagery. You mine it well.

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  8. Amazing response to a difficult challenge. I love your work, Pamela. Your words are always juicy and luscious. This is especially notable: "resting easy on strands of brilliant stars bursting before me."

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  9. Pam, What an excellent piece of writing encompassing thoughts and life and times...can feel the life changing form from stanza to stanza....and difficult prompt that you mastered extremely well here..bkm

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  10. Thanks Viv, not an easy prompt, but easier than a ghazal:)

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  11. No regrets about the good things, Stan, but hard to convey it with the bad.

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  12. That's the beauty of it, Ron, you don't have to:)

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  13. The most difficult thing for me is the title, Brenda. Thanks.

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  14. I can't help you with that, Jinksy:)

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  15. Marianne, you always have something nice to say. I appreciate that:)

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  16. Nicely done! I enjoyed reading the poem then I read the back story and realised how complicated it was. Very well done!!

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  17. Thanks Andy, this could use some revision, some time in the future.

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  18. Excellent poem in response to a difficult prompt, Pam. I admire you for tackling it...I like 'wrapped in a blanket of joy...' It warms me!

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  19. Jeeze, I usually jump at challenges, but I think I would jump away from this one....hmmm..
    When I read through it the first time, I thought it was very poetic, but I didn't get it. Then I read your notes (thanks for including the notes), and went back to the poem All I can say is Well Done!!!

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  20. First read, I caught all kinds of meaning and thought I understood. Then read the explanation and thought, "Wow! You got this from that?" Then went back and read it a second time. Still like what I caught the first time around. As always, your use of language makes me drool, wonderful writing,

    Elizabeth

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  21. That bit is about Melissa, and I felt/feel exactly that way, Mary. This wasn't an easy prompt, but I am glad I did it.

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  22. Thanks Gloria, I suppose it could've sat alone without the notes or maybe not.

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  23. Elizabeth, what a really nice thing to say. Interesting you liked on the first read, not knowing what it was about. I like that.

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  24. challenging prompt and
    thoughtful imagery

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