Time is a glutton.
Step back in time with me,
behind gardenia laden breeze.
School days, school days,
good old golden rule days.
I remember mother’s shaking hand,
she enjoyed a staccato existence.
Track my life Crayola bright.
It must be a dream
because they leave the body.
I was born to die
and so many have blood on their hands.
May you burn in hell.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. For Thursday’s Meet the Bar prompt, Laura asked us to create a “Found Poem” by using only the first lines of the first poem we wrote in each month of 2022.
We cannot add any words to the first lines, except prepositions and conjunctions to assist with the flow of the poem. I’ve added three words: “behind, because, and.” The two lines, “school days, school days, good old golden rule days” are the first line of my haibun written on August 2, 2022. This was indeed a sudoku prompt but with no choice as to the lines of our poem for today. I was quite surprised to see these first lines….some quite dark!
Image by Monoar Rahman Rony from Pixabay
lillian the home poet 
“Track my life Crayola bright.
It must be a dream”
Love these two lines Lil. They brightened up my day my friend… 🙂✌🏼❣️
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Thanks, Rob. These are my favorite lines as well…..just really tough to get to that last line. I just said “UGH” outloud when I saw I had to include that line!
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Love the opening lines of your found poem Lillian. The ending lines are dark indeed.
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Thanks, Grace. Yes indeed. When I saw that last line as a first line that I had to include, I really cringed. Maybe I should have cheated? 🙂
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each line speaks so well to the next to make a fabulous read, not least:
“I remember mother’s shaking hand,
she enjoyed a staccato existence.”
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Thanks, Laura. Yes, I’ve inherited my mother’s essential tremor in my right hand….and yep…it creates a staccato existence. Those two lines really did fit. On the other hand, I absolutely cringed when I saw that last line as a first line that I had to include!
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Lillian ~ this is truly wonderful.
❤
David
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Thank you, Ben. Always enjoy seeing you here!
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My pleasure! ❤
~David
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I enjoyed you collection of lines, Lillian.
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Thanks, Dwight! Hope to see you at OLN LIVE this week…either on Thursday or Saturday – or both? 🙂
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You are welcome! I will try to be there!
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That shift to darkness in the last stanza was so surprising… but it works
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Thanks, Bjorn. Yes…I literally cringed when I came upon that last line as a first line I would have to use.
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This works so well! I love that first line, and the middle stanza in particular.
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Thank you. So glad you enjoyed! It’s always interesting to create a “found poem”. I must admit, I cringed when I saw the last line as a first line I would have to incorporate in the poem! Perhaps we’ll see you at OLN LIVE this Thursday or Saturday? Look at this Thursday’s prompt and you’ll see the links to join us. Come read a poem of yours…or just sit in to listen. It’s a lot of fun to see folks!
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I think it’s trickier when the lines come from very different poems. If you were choosing lines from a set of poems with a consistent theme it would be a lot easier. That last stanza feels like a separate poem, and I think a lot of people ended up with stand alone stanzas/poems. I did.
Thanks re OLN live, I will try to get there. 🙂 Just figuring out the time conversions – Thursday 3pm USA EST is 7 am here, 10 am USA EST is 2am here so that’s a bit early. 😀 The problem is I don’t have a room where I can go and close the door, I’ll have to sit in the living room/kitchen which means kids are liable to wander through.
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This was so engaging; the ending is quite memorable! 😆👏👏
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This is gorgeously done, Lillian! That sudden shift to darkness at the end was so surprising! 💘💘
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Thank you, Sanaa. Enjoyed the prompt!
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