by the Read Write Poem Staff
Read Write Poem member Angie Werren invites us to write about the choice we didn’t make:
Everyday we make choices. Some are small: English breakfast or Lipton? the highway or back roads? Some are more significant: convertible or mini-van? farmhouse or condo?
Some choices lead us straight into the life we’re living, but for this poem, think about one of the things in your life you didn’t choose.
Be concrete. Pick an object — something tangible* — and write your poem directly to it, as if you were writing it a personal letter. Explain why you didn’t choose it. What could things have been like if you had? Talk about what your life has become without it. See where the “confession” takes you.
*As an alternative, dig a little deeper and write your poem to a person you left behind.
Reminders for everyone
Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how you can engage with Read Write Poem this month, no matter what your personal writing challenge is for the month of April.
Please read this page to find out how Read Write Poem’s prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from any post this month is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. If you haven’t done so already, please read all the pages under About in the navigation bar.
http://freckledwriter.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-might-have-been.html
It’s always fun to consider the road not taken. Who knows…
“Separate Paths”: http://caraholman.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/2010-napowrimo-11/
I really liked this prompt, but my response is pathetic — here it is such as it is.
http://poiesis3.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11.html
http://estherpoyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/la-fin-de-l’amour-the-end-of-love-poem/
Frivolous, but I’m happy that it required appropriately little effort: http://jasonriedy.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/napowrimo-the-eleventh-already/
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy napowrimo Post – Woops
My poem, Choices, appears at musetomyeyes.blogspot.com
http://www.robertlunday.net/2010/04/poem-11-art-of-living.html
#11….ROAD NOT TAKEN
http://waynepitchko.blogspot.com
This pesky prompt brought for so much material I couldn’t chose and ended up with general verse. Maybe try again later on this…
“half of life is just showing up”
http://mmw113.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11-half-of-life-is-just.html
“brought forth”
This one went in an unexpected direction!
http://memali.posterous.com/1130-22
The road not taken through the tulip field…
http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-napowrimo-11.html
aborting the mission
http://redshoepoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-challege-11.html
Here’s my poem:
http://marcieaf.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-11.html
today I’m off prompt – this is in response to hearing yesterday about a death
http://lanijo.com/poetry/welcome-club
A choice. This is the feline’s worst dilemma. The furry one took over the keyboard today.
http://daily-yawp.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-11.html
http://sky-lined.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-11.html voila! The first one is for this prompt. And, frankly, I like it better! x3
http://eyemachine.xanga.com/725187483/wordlessness/
Not for the prompt.
this is mine: http://wp.me/pGBCb-1r
“In case you want to know”
http://eveningpoems.blogspot.com/
http://rosettathurman.posterous.com/napowrimo-poem-11-if-you-ask-me-im-ready
using your prompt for day 11. thanks.
Still here
I’m a bit nutty tonight with this poem –
http://theresebroderick.wordpress.com
April 11 ~ The Skinny ~ http://treasures.edublogs.org/2010/04/11/readwritepoem-april-11/
Another Tanka
http://nothinghypothetical.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/solomons-porch/
I’m on the late poetry train again with this one tonight – Passport Photos While U Wait
http://rustbloommansions.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-eleven-poem-11-passport-photos.html
I started with the word choice and then it morphed into a poem called A City Kid’s Choice. It can be found here: http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/04/city-kids-choice.html
http://kolokoli.blogspot.com/2010/04/country-city-mouse.html
Thank you for this prompt!
I took the prompt in a different direction and wrote about a choice someone else made.
http://cosmicmermaid.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/path-of-hell/
these are getting worse by the day but it’s something: the dress
Evelyn N. Alfred replied:
April 11th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I love that “invisible seam” line monshiprose.
I Will Be King
Angeliad of Surazeus
2010 04 11
http://open.salon.com/blog/surazeus/2010/04/11/i_will_be_king
Over ten thousand years of human history
men who were stronger than other men
would fight each other to bloody death
wrestling to dominate with a strong will
and organize labor to build vision of life
cultivating wheat or tending milk cows
or building towers on ziggurat mountains
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Ancient tablets and scrolls and books
are filled with names of a million men
who made themselves kings over men
but their bones crumble to dust in earth
and rain washes their names from time
though vanity and desire to control lives
drives each new generation of men to fight
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I dig my hands into rich soil of this earth
to plant seeds and raise crops for food
to mold bricks and build a tall ziggurat
to melt stone into brass for instruments
to polish jewels containing secret dreams
for wealth of power is hidden inside dirt
because big man takes wealth for his own
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I see grand vision of a glorious citadel
of high walls surrounding garden of peace
where women dance by fountains of water
and children play among trees with fruit
so I organize men into gangs to build tower
by cutting stone and hauling stone on logs
and stacking stone into temples of power
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
We transformed through stages of metals
transforming iron and brass and now steel
as we plunged in chaos of industrial growth
to recreate castle town into vast maze
of tall towers made with steel and glass
and replaced violent kings with gentle men
who reign by wits and information analysis
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I design towers of power for each new age
ziggurats with layers of gardens and pools
temples where priests roast beef steak
museums where muses sing tales of power
towers where wizards peer in crystal balls
castles where kings organize police knights
skyscrapers where computers calculate wealth
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I break branch and carve a magic wand
which I use to beat heads of arrogant rebels
then I mold brass into scepter with diamond
which I wield as god in temple of song
then I forge steel into skin-slicing sword
which I swing in battle to chop off heads
so kneel and I will place sword at your neck
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I explain vision of social justice for all
how men will protect women and children
if you will join brotherhood of our cause
and pledge your loyal faith to my good word
to obey my commands when swift events
require quick action to defend our paradise
so you vow placing hand over your heart
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I touch your neck with sword of death
then proclaim you brother knight of truth
and bid you rise and become one of us
then we raise grails full of sparkling wine
and sing hymn that explains how leader
who founded our movement is most noble
then we bow before statue of his face
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Before we organized gangs following kings
I walked alone with nothing in my hands
then I picked up stone and sparked a fire
then I picked up wand and speared a deer
and roasted deer over warm crackling fire
then I scraped its skin to wear as a cloak
and thus I transformed from animal to man
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Before time regulated our daily actions
I sat in a boat on a broad sparkling lake
and caught fish with bone hook on string
and roasted it crispy sweet on crackling fire
and sat under a tree playing a bone flute
as sun shimmered gold over distant hills
shining on river flowing from my open heart
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Remember name of every famous king
who rose up from crowd of normal men
and became god filled with divine power
and track waves of their rising and falling
and remember moral values they preached
as they placed gold coins in hands of men
who prayed on knees before their thrones
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Remember name of every divine prophet
who walked alone in wilderness of despair
and saw vision of ways to solve problems
then returned to cities of confused men
and taught them how to better their lives
by following more efficient acts of hands
transforming material into instruments
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
We crouch in mud by river of serpents
and I stare into your eyes with stark fear
trying to explain danger stalking our hopes
then I grab wand and carve pictures in mud
gesturing and speaking words of my thought
and then you understand when your eyes
glow bright connecting our minds in one
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
We worshipped divine living god on throne
by climbing steps up towering ziggurat
and working at tasks to fulfill his vision
then he died and his body crumbled to dust
so we chose a new mortal man to attend
ritual of purification and test to ascertain
if eternal god spirit will possess him in turn
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Though each man possessed by god soul
dies and his body crumbles in silent dust
eternal spirit of god will find a new man
to possess with divine power in his words
that reveal vision of love to guide actions
so we build a better nation that survives
disasters and attacks so our children grow
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Men wanting to play god organized men
in gangs with weapons of death to fight
brutal wars attacking to slaughter all rivals
and created themselves emperors of power
deciding who lives and dies and how we act
but campaigns of violent war transformed
into campaigns for votes from loyal believers
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Long ago to make myself king over men
I fought with sword to chop off rebel heads
but now I speak words picturing my vision
how I will reorganize institutions of action
with laws revealing right and wrong paths
through jungle of death to paradise of life
so now kings rule through wisdom of words
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Men always play power games to control
how others live so we all cooperate well
even using image of an all-powerful creator
who can do all and see all and know all
to control other people with fear of death
by preaching lie that we live after we die
for consciousness dissipates as mist at dawn
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
I live forever in genes of spiral god soul
inside heart and blood of all my children
and I also live forever in words that I write
by composing codes of images and thoughts
that program visions to install moral values
in eyes of children who read scriptures
so sing for me muse with enchanting voice
but if I kill you all I will be king of nothing.
Eeps, belated for me today, and I didn’t use the prompt. Bad poet!
Still, here ’tis:
http://yearofthebooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/poem-a-day-day-11/
This prompt is eerily in place with my current goings on in life. My poem for the day, ‘Eavesdropping’.
Anger echoes up the stairwell.
I crouch by the banister
Straining
To catch an inkling of
Understanding.
Suddenly I have gone
Deaf.
I’m playing Psychiatrist
For the umpteenth-dozen time,
Leaning forward and asking
“How does that make you feel?”
And not just into the mirror.
I soak up my surroundings
A sponge soggy with
Lame emotions
While my selfish twin wishes
They would simply write
The End.
Here’s my poem for the day:
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-11-to-choose-or-not-to-choose.html
woosh…. http://motherveg.wordpress.com/
I traveled from NH to Florida today and this is the first chance I’ve had to write. Made it before midnight, anyway! A short one tonight.
Long story short, today’s prompt goes a bit beyond me, hehe. So I had to go off-prompt today. Not that I just made something up, though. I instead took the challenged proposed to me by a friend to write a poem based on a recipe; http://wintermintfruit.blogspot.com/2010/04/turtles.html
Tomorrow, I attempt these in my blog
Big Blue
Everyone knew who you were,
Though you kept to yourself
Refusing to mingle
You kept the source of your power a mystery.
So many wanted you
Spent their whole lives with their dreams of being part of you
Yet you never invited them in.
You made them work
Still you rejected more than you accepted.
I ran from you
Your mystery, your walls, your lifelong effects fascinated me
But they terrified me and I ran.
You accepted me, but I rejected you.
Your one Blue Letter would have changed my life
But I wasn’t ready
Now I yearn for a second chance to scale your walls
To be a part of you.
Aurora Interrupted: http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/11_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_11.html
erindavis replied:
April 11th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Susan, I couldn’t see where to comment on your poem, but I really loved it, and could relate to it very much!
Letter to Christianity
Sorry I haven’t written since ash rained down
to fill our gutters, blanket that whole childhood farm
in a thin grey sheet. I’ve been keeping busy
creating some of my own original sins, testing
the limits of language, and quietly holding
my wife’s hand as our pensive daughter
considers which backyard blooms made it
through another winter. I remember rising
from the Sunday basement where I learned
what I was supposed to feel – this was years
before I knew the difference between show
and tell, but I still knew something was lost
in that telling. Instead of adhering to the plot
I became one-sixth of a Pirandello play,
determined to discover the wonders of this world
with my own eyes. In high school English,
poetry was the answer, multiple-choice
selection C, and Mr. Guerra explained
what each image meant for the week’s quiz;
but then, sotto voce, he intoned a reminder
that in reality nothing is so simple. He died
senior year. You wanted me to be prose
like you. You wanted me to provide comfort
and answers, but I am image and question, poetry
turning away from the edge of the page
to look again at everything I refuse to accept
at face value. I do not want your simple stories
contrived to control. I want all that you’re not:
rain cascading down my face without fear
of flood, the taste of a ripe apple, knowledge
earned one day at a time, and death
with no hidden meaning, just like life.
rallentanda replied:
April 11th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
POW! right between the eyes. Fantastic poem.
‘ one sixth of a Pirandello play’..wonderful!
Surprising, but obvious for me too!
NaPoWriMo #11 Mother undone
rallentanda replied:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Mothers with sons should read this one! Phew!
Boo hoo.
http://self-intoxication.deviantart.com/art/One-of-One-Hundred-160451197
Today, it is Spent
For my long hair (unedited first draft)
http://shannons-words.livejournal.com/154366.html
The Other Road
April 11, 2010
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one made soft by many feet;
I took the one well-paved, with well-groomed
blooms and shrubs, the birds made docile
by feeders hung from trees, the animals
domesticated and mild. I chose the path
well-marked, with friends for guides
and affable companions, with the comfort
of a loving hand and the encouragement
of sweet words. I chose the path
my father tread before me, and my
daughter is soon to follow – the path
that leads to comfort and love and peace.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I chose the one well-traveled,
And that has made all the difference.
Should I have picked the yellow or pink iPod?
It’s a shallow idea, but I had fun blowing it up.
http://mayaganesan.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11.html
http://katharinewhitcomb.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11-ysl.html
Less Painful, Sort Of
Here is mine:
http://mygorgeoussomewhere.org/2010/04/11/transliteration-of-catullus-part-ix/
My #11 is here:
http://robin-turner.blogspot.com/2010/04/lakes-edge-dearest.html
The final draft for tonight: 36 Frames, More or Less
Thanks Angie for a great prompt! It took a while for me to decide on what to write, but it finally came to me. Here’s what I wrote: “Eulogy for a Love Gone Dead”
I’ve never picked the colour orange as my favourite colour.
I’ve never chosen orange as my favourite colour.
NEVER ORANGE
A little bit late but here it goes: http://bit.ly/cpwkKm
Here is my # 11: Click For Friends
http://brokeness.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11-click-for-friends.html
http://seashelllz.livejournal.com/114788.html
Posted late, but here:
http://triatriatria.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/untitled-3/
I was surprisingly hard to think of things in my life that I didn’t choose. I wonder what that means.
Name
My favorite so far.
http://thebooklife.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/4-11/
The biggest choice we never make is our names, no? My first attempt at a prose poem.
Silver
http://scriptophobe.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11.html
My last catch-up from this weekend: http://kagerrr.tumblr.com/post/516034226/april11thpoem
here is mine: http://teapartiesonneptune.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/little-lotus/
http://bygraceandfaith.tumblr.com/
my day 11 poem
Late, Late, Late!
No Wisconsin
Even he could not cradle the cold from my toes, the tip of my nose,
and somehow the snow found the crevices, a way to seep into my bones.
I have a record of strangers’ footsteps, his, my own until spring.
I don’t care. He still aches. Still there are parts of me bare.
He is happy when the cold forces him to live underground,
when the outside is simply a word, not a place to go.
Sunny days can be a cold, beautiful killer.
The name of his apartment complex involves a bear,
and I take it as a sign of the necessary hibernation for winter.
I don’t drop the “no” from “thank you.” My tongue is numb.
My poem is at:
http://ragbone.wordpress.com
this was something i began in english class when we were given a robert frost poem and told to revamp it into our own, it kind of relates to the prompt so i reworked the prompt and my ideas and really enjoyed the results
“The Road Not Taken”
Cliched terms
forever defining me
“This is the beginning of the rest of your life”
I was told when I graduated high school.
Little did they know
that moment had come and gone
at age 15.
The first party.
The first drink.
The first smoke.
The first guy.
I could choose one of two paths
but not both
A lifetime of forever young
thirty years old still clubbing and going to keggers
or I could grow the fuck up
stop being selfish
and learn from others mistakes
including some of my own.
http://tasmith1122.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/rwp-napowrimopoetic-asides-day-11/
The Last Meal
http://bitsandpieces.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/napowrimo-11-the-thing-you-didnt-choose/
#11 so very late!
http://jazzandpoetry.com/2010/04/napowrimo-11-the-thing-you-didnt-choose/
#11 – choices
http://vanessavaile.posterous.com/poem-11-choices
followed by tagalong #7:
tanka for the memories
http://vanessavaile.posterous.com/poem-7-tanka-for-the-memories