Thursday, April 1, 2010

NaPoWriMo #1 - Shuffle a Poem

Prompt #1: Today's prompt requires everyone to follow these steps.
1. Put your iPod or iTunes on shuffle.
2. Write down the first five titles that come up. No cheating allowed.
3. Use all five titles to draft a new poem. They have to be used intact - you can interrupt them with punctuation, you may not remove or change words.

The titles for me were:

1. The River - Garth Brooks
2. Hallelujah - Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris
3. Dante's Prayer - Loreena McKennitt
4. Mary - Patti Griffin
5. What's This Life For - Creed

The following poem is my result.

I Can Never Be Your Mary
I can't breathe.
The weight of your demands
is suffocating.
It's never enough -
You're always wanting more;
More money...
More coffee...
More time...
More me...
I have nothing left to give -
You've claimed it all.
Still,
you beg and plead,
Knowing deep inside
it can never be
the way it was
when first we loved.
Even if we gathered by the river
of our former innocence and youth,
Arms raised in praise,
Singing "Hallelujah"
and chanting "Dante's Prayer,"
Too much has transpired -
We can never return to times long past.
I can never be your Mary.
I am not a saint.
I am not an angel.
I am a woman...
I, too, want more!
The time has come to make a change
Unless we both choose
to settle for less,
Leaving us to continually ask,
"What's this life for?"

©Bridget Nutting , 2010

I must admit that I wanted to keep shuffling until I received a better "five," but my conscience wouldn't allow more than a passing thought. This was an interesting challenge, for sure. I am anxious to use it as a prompt with my high school students.

1 comment:

Andy Sewina said...

Yeah, I like the way you got the titles in!