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Monday, January 20, 2014

Today's Poem or Short Story Prompt: The Word "Really"

This blog is devoted to a select group of poets. We're starting with poets from the Ann Arbor area, but, hey, if you're from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Saginaw or the Upper Peninsula, then that is okay, too. We've even been so generous to accept poets from other parts of the USA and the entire country of Canada!  

Our goal is to provide you with a prompt every day from which you are to garner inspiration and submit a poem. How to submit will be very easy.  Just put your poem or short story  in the comments section and hit post. You may not immediately see your post, but it is there under the "Comments" section. You may need to click on "Comments" to see your poem.  It is there on another page.

You may need to have a Gmail or Yahoo or AOL account to post in the comments section.  Most of you do have Gmail or Yahoo or AOL, but for those of you that don't, it's extremely worthwhile to open up one of these email accounts now!  This way you've got a chance to get your work out there in the world.

Today's poem or short story prompt is the word "really".


2 comments:

  1. Really

    I'll admit I have little idea who my father was
    Our backstory is lengthy
    Three hundred book sized pages
    At least
    Yet where I lose him can be as simple as
    These few facets:

    He enjoyed chipped beef on toast
    This dish referred to in impolite society
    As "shit on a shingle"

    When a thing or a person disgusted him
    He would employ this phrase
    "They" or "him" or "her" or "it" could gag a maggot"
    I'd never seen a maggot
    Until the day my live-in boyfriend left dishes in the sink
    And not being his slave or a housewife
    I left the dishes there until the moment I saw
    The white slithering worms that heat and meat
    Combine to God knows what end

    When my father took ill
    He didn't come down with the usual fever
    Or chills
    Or body aches
    Or stomach upset
    Instead he would have the "dry heaves"
    When you are nine-years old
    You have no idea what heaves are
    Much less dry ones
    (I still can't get a firm picture his symptom)

    He wasn't an outlandish man
    He wasn't even a character
    Like the rest of the bigger than life family members
    That populate our original family of six
    Still when I think about him
    Dead now twenty-two years
    I can't help but feel a slither
    I can't help feeling a little sick

    Catherine Powers
    January 20, 2014
    Copyright 2014

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  2. Decrypting the Uncoded

    Stop. This site is not secure.

    “I really enjoyed meeting you.”
    Message selected. Spoken. Sendee received.

    Search for significance.
    A suspicion of the superfluous syllables,
    Sloppy, surly, sarcastic, sadistic.

    Really?

    MUST the enjoyment of our meeting be stressed SO?
    So as to hide the truth?
    An unsettling sensation?
    Social anxiety?
    Insincere niceties?

    Or perhaps the opposite;
    Suppose it was an over-analysis of simple emphasis.
    No secret meanings, no deceit;
    SO the enjoyment of our meeting MUST be stressed.
    In order to see the truth,
    An infectious smile,
    Social connection,
    Authentic kindness.

    A sentence has one in seven meanings,
    And actions speak louder than words.

    Save the date.
    “I’ll see you soon, really.”

    © Deborah Cornett February 8, 2014

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