read write prompt #43: rubberneckers
by Carolee Sherwood
Let’s be rubberneckers this week. Gawkers. Extreme voyeurs.
I have a distinct memory of being a kid on a road trip with my parents. We were crossing the bridge from Maine into New Hampshire, and we passed a terrible accident. Mashed up cars. Rescue vehicles. Sheets. My mother made us duck our heads. She forbid us to look out the window. She wanted to protect us from seeing anything horrific.
But this week, fellow Read Write Poem-ers, there are no mothers to protect us, no sheets to shield our view. Find a poem in the typical things that we can’t look away from, like train wrecks or car crashes or look deeper into our fascination with human oddities or other people’s domestic dramas. Peep at something you’re not supposed to see, like a couple having sex or a stranger crying.
Use your poem to show us what you see. Put us there with you. Wrap us up in your words so we can feel your quickened pulse as you scramble to make sense of the scene.
Come back next week, starting after midnight Monday morning (CST in the States) and post a link in the Get Your Poem On post that will be waiting for you.
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get the read write poem badge! 
Wear it loud, wear it proud! Display the Read Write Poem badge on your site. Just click here or on the image above to get the code! read write poem news- yes, yes, here’s another virtual book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 6, 2010 | 11:37 amFind the latest tour stop for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace at Jillypoet, Jill Crammond Wickham’s blog, where you can find an interview with Pamela that discusses how she creates manuscripts.
Previous stops include Daniel Romo at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies and James Brush at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- the best of the web is in our ranks
February 6, 2010 | 11:35 amSarah J. Sloat’s poem,”Attending the Tasting” (published in The Literary Bohemian) has been selected for Best of the Web 2010. Congratulations, Sarah!
- another (w00t!) read write poem member on the joe milford poetry show
February 6, 2010 | 11:34 amOn the Joe Milford Poetry Show tomorrow (Feb. 6): W.F. Roby at 9 AM (PST). Find the show here!
Joe describes Will as a “great language poet and bad-ass.”
- ‘literary podcasting made simple with wordpress.com’
February 6, 2010 | 11:33 amDave Bonta has published a how-to article that might be of interest to WordPress users: “Literary Podcasting Made Simple with WordPress.com,” based on his and Beth Adams’ experience at Qarrtsiluni.
Thanks, Dave, for continuing to help make the community aware of technological resources that can expand our art.
- the latest (virtual) book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 3, 2010 | 3:53 pmThe latest tour stop has been posted for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace. Find out how Daniel Romo responded to the work at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies.
James Brush provided our first tour stop at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- planning for napowrimo in april, and you are invited!
February 2, 2010 | 6:12 pmHello, hello dear Read Write Poem community members! We are in the planning stages for NaPoWriMo. (What? Is that a groan I hear, or an excited exclamation?)
We are planning another prompt-every-day for those folks who love to write a daily poem in April (which is, as most of you know, National Poetry Month in the United States — although there is an international following of writing poetry every day in April, too, so it is not just about the States).
Anyway! This is a call for prompts because we want to run your ideas, one every day, in April. So here’s what to do:
- Prompts must be no more than 250 words, and we will take the first 30 that we receive.
- Include “NaPoWriMo Prompt” in the subject line of your email as well as your username (e.g., the name you use when you log in) so we can match you up with your prompt and give you the link love.
- Email your submission (in the body of the email — no attachments please) to prompts (at) readwritepoem (dot) org!
We’ll let you know when we’ve got the 30, but don’t delay because it takes a lot of time to format the posts and we want to be ready come April Fools’ Day. Woohoo!
- new senior contributors at read write poem
February 2, 2010 | 11:51 amWe are thrilled to announce that Ren Powell and Dave Jarecki are moving into the senior contributor role at Read Write Poem. Both have been writing feverishly for the site, as well as providing ideas for content and for the community as a whole. In short, they make this site a more lively, and better, place.
Ren and Dave will fill the roles vacated by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham, who have moved into the manager role.
Everyone please thank Ren and Dave for their hard work and commitment to Read Write Poem.
- rounding out the virtual book tour of sarah j. sloat’s ‘in the voice of a minor saint’
January 31, 2010 | 1:53 pmOur last stop on the Virtual Book Tour of Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint is with Ren Powell. Find Ren’s review at More Babel.
Joseph Harker provided our first stop in December, and you can find David Moolten’s review at Edible Detritus. David’s was followed by Dave Jarecki’s. Dave’s review is at his blog. Find Jill Crammond Wickham’s at Jillypoet: Mom Trying to Write.
In case you missed the introduction, we are (virtually) hosting Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint. For complete tour information, such as how you can get your own copy of the collection or how you can get involved in future tours, read this post.
- make your own book: get off the computer and onto the paper
January 30, 2010 | 4:19 pmBeth Adams has posted her latest project at The Cassandra Pages. “A Handmade Book” may not explicate all the details of bookbinding, but Beth shows readers the “Secret Belgian Binding.” It’s a beautiful as well as inspiring post.
If you would like more detailed instructions, Google “secret Belgian bookbinding” and find sites such as this one. Or look for a local book arts class for hands-on instruction.
As Beth says, ” … it did me good to get away from the computer and feel my hands at work!”
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Oh wow, that is pretty daring or provocative, which is really a coincidence to say the least! I just checked out a book of poetry by Ai today, who writes poems in the similar vein that you are prompting us to write! Really, what a coincidence!!
Her book is called VICE, which won the National Book Award, and so far, I’m so hooked with all the disturbing, frightening, and even daring poems she’s written about humanity. I mean, it feels REAL and RAW, even though the characters in her poems are fictional. Wow, I would so love to write like her. Anyway, just sharing.
I’ll definitely be using Ai as my inspiration to do this prompt!
PRAYING, NOT PREYING, at NICKERS AND INK
YAY! just wrote one and was debating whether to post it–it’s untitled as of now–so now know I will put it up and will come back on Sunday or Monday and post the link
thanks for the push!
Do some rubberneck travel to this wonderful rural really rural place:)Stuck in Vintage.
[...] 2008 · No Comments This is my first attempt at the six sentences form and was written for Read Write Poem prompt # 43: rubberneckers. I remembered the couple who took their nighttime beach walk in Beach After Dark and found out that [...]
I haven’t contributed in a while but this prompt looks like it may just do the trick!
Thanks!
Okay, I wrote this before you posted the prompt and it’s a short story but the title says it all, The Voyeur
Will come back with a poem shortly.
[...] was a response to Carolee’s prompt to “watch” something we’re not supposed to see. Incidentally, at the top of the [...]
[...] us to go places we weren’t supposed to, describe things we weren’t supposed to see. To rubberneck. And [...]
[...] 5, 2008 But this week, fellow Read Write Poem-ers, there are no mothers to protect us, no sheets to shield o… addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fmygorgeoussomewhere.org%2F2008%2F09%2F05%2Fpoets-like-to-watch%2F’; [...]