DAY 25 – FIRST THINGS FIRST

NaPoWriMo Day 25
For Read Write Poem


It’s Day #25, and you may be getting tired. In Joseph Harker’s prompt today, let others do the heavy lifting of inspiration.
Keep an ear out for the first sentence (or even word) that is said to you after you read this prompt. (Poetic license: If the first few words are exceptionally boring, wait for the first uncommon or peculiar one.) Take that word/sentence — it could be “mango” or “exemplar” or “have you ever been to this Ethiopian restaurant?” — and build a poem around it. Maybe you have deep thoughts on mangoes or a narrative of heartbreak and spicy injera from the restaurant mentioned. Trust in fate.


“THE DOOR WON’T CLOSE PROPERLY”

With the front door open a crack
and the afternoon sun, still strong
I can settle into the beam
that slices through the entrance hall

Then, with left hand over right eye
(because I need my good, right hand
and the sun shines in from the left)
I can stare at another world

Raise right hand, in front of face
wave rapidly before left eye
Stroboscopic finger effect
causes images to distort

Perspective loses relevance
Dimensions fuse, and time speeds up
Colours merge into greyish-pink
Tone and contrast exist no more

The action enhances hearing
Ultra-high and ultra-low
frequencies can be distinguished
and messages begin to form

Suddenly contrast is restored
Images show, in shades of grey
like negative development
for those grainy old photographs

Stills develop jerky motion
It’s early Hollywood, with sound
but nothing like you’ve ever seen
shown at a cinema near you

Your deepest dreams, your greatest fears
take shape and manifest themselves
somewhere between the world outside
and that crack that lets darkness in