Poetry Prompt #8

[Sumyanna]

Here is the next word list prompt. Here are 10 words to inspire your writing. Use them to create anything form of poetry. The main thing is to read something into these words - and let them tell you a story.


neck
spell
sidewalk
birth
street
welcome
please
return
jagged
peace


The minimum word use is set at 3 words. I have found - trying to use as many as I can helps me stretch my writing. It is good practice.

Please post your writing here - so everyone can see what you came up with. Part of the joy in doing this exercise is to see how many different ways these words can take you.

~ Sumyanna

[Bison]

Giving it a go....

You got a jagged glass heart
And it feels like magic as it tears me apart

I still visit that street where we met
I still remember all the stars you set

Aside for a night of peace and quiet
But we never found one in our amorous riots

Your lips on my neck turned to teeth
That sank into flesh you called sweet

Those sidewalks could talk but they
Won't ever mention that day

When your spell shook the sky
And turned the day to night

I will welcome my end
If we never cross again

From birth to death in an empty hospital
I never truly knew you; not at all

If love to loss my heart grows tender
Please oh please return to sender

[MHenry]

Nicely done, Bison!

[RhymeLovingWriter]

Sounds like quite the relationship! Nice job on the prompts!

[MHenry]

The Homeless Hippie

She had peace tattooed on her neck
A hippie flower child from the 60's
Now living on the sidewalk near the street
Where she had given birth to the child
In whose home she was no longer welcome
She sat on the curb for a spell, in her jagged skin
Wishing she could return to the time when she
Knew how to please others and herself

[RhymeLovingWriter]

This is actually a pretty cool poem MHenry.

[MHenry]

Thank you, RLW, the prompts do serve a purpose.

[MHenry]

The thing about prompts...you write stuff you never otherwise would have written. I like that. Thanks for opening my eyes to this delightful exercise, Sumyanna!

[Muttado1sb]

They have definitely made me write in different ways then I had. So as MHenry says, thanks, Sumyanna!

[Joe Bobbo]

This post is now a sticky topic. (Sorry for not doing so earlier, real life things happened.) From here-on out, I will attempt to keep the current prompt as a sticky.

[Sumyanna]

No worries, it seems life has happened to me as well. Am going to post the next prompt (a bit late) been on vacation. Thanks!

[Muttado1sb]

Peace

Peace, what a concept.
So many places
where it was not long ago
and it’s return is wanted.
So many places
where it would be welcome,
even if only for a short spell.
Because without peace,
life has become
jagged for far too many.
Without peace
there is little left on the street
to please far too few.
Peace should not be
temporarily otherwise engaged
but fully engaged
in the space above our necks.
We should help peace give birth
where it is needed
and return it from
where it has fled.
Peace should be
occupying our sidewalks,
occupying our neighborhoods
occupying our world.
Peace, what a concept.

[Sumyanna]

What a sorrowful, heartfelt write. Yes - peace should. Truly a beautiful poem Muttado1sb

[RhymeLovingWriter]

The Kindness of Strangers

Hello
welcome to my haven
Please
sit a spell

You look tense,
as if your day was filled
with barbed, jagged challenges

Let me rub your neck,
perhaps your feet as well

The street is no place
to find peace;

Return to busted, broken sidewalk
may yet prove to obscure evidence
of your birth

Wouldn't you rather be known
even casually

If only for a spell?


(c) RhymeLovingWriter 2016

[PoetryBree]

I sit alone on the sidewalk

I rub my finger on the jagged edge of a rock

I throw the rock back onto the street

I let it return back in peace

I ponder my life, it's jagged edges

I think of all the different pledges

I wish the daughter I did Birth to return back home

I say please come back to where the horses roam

I will welcome You without regret

I will not try to strangle your neck

do I need spell it out

Or will you leave me to pout

[RhymeLovingWriter]

How do you like the prompt format PoetryBree? Good job on this one!

[PoetryBree]

I like it...I am trying to learn how to write better from it...usually when I write I am struck with inspiration so it's a bit different.

[GrimReefer]

My neck has a spell, i fall to the sidewalk.
My birth was on a street.
God said "welcome and please, wait for my return.
I am jagged and in peace."

[N. Y. Sonnet]

Sorry that I'm almost a year late... Again, great prompts that really served to spark my creativity!

She clasps her silver locket ‘round her neck
And pulls a hood over her silky hair
Then slips through deadened hall, down crumbled stair
Until her face is greeted by night air

A tear grows in her heart to see her land
So torn by bloodshed, under Ares’ spell
With ev’ry loyal sidewalk trembling
Beneath each marching footstep, angered, fell

Is this the glorious country of her birth?
Now all is fallen to decay and ruin
Tall figures clad in black patrol each street
Unmindful of the stiffened forms there strewn

‘Any sight but this would welcome be!’
She sighs and shivers, not from wind or cold
‘Please give me back the city that I loved
Return to us our freedom as of old.’

And as she stands there, silent and alone
She takes her locket off, the ancient charm
For legend said it granted any wish
To those who wished for good and not for harm

With jagged breath, for fear the tales lied,
She lifts the locket’s lid; all noises cease
And in the hush, as light bursts from its depths,
She whispers to the night, ‘I wish for peace…’

THE END?

[Raku]

This is a jagged spell
That I know so painfully well
The sidewalk left to simmer
While the street cause bare feet to blister

Sweat continuously runs down the neck
Scorching weather makes going outside a treck
Steam will soon give birth to clouds
A welcome change for our weary crowds

So please bear with the ghastly weather
Keep the peace though your emotions may stir
Soon the rain will return
And wash away our concern

[Rhymeboy]

I was finally able to use the editor to highlight the words! Lol! I had problems before! The system flagged the previous entry as spam and saved it for review by moderator but would not allow it to be posted. So I re-posted it The previous entries of this poem here should be deleted!

THE JAGGED EDGE

I was walking down ---- the street one day
It was a neighborhood ----- I knew well
I found a neaby ------ bus stop bench
and I thought I would ------ rest a spell

This neighborhood was ----- my childhood home
and I never thought----- I would return
This is where Life ------ had taught me Death
and other lessons ------ I would learn

I thought about ----- my wretched life
and the circumstances -------- of my birth
and I wondered about -------- the reasons why
I was placed here ------- on this Earth

Then growing up through the sidewalk
was a dandelion weed
Its flower ----- was a puff of gray
for it had already----- gone to seed

I plucked the stem ----- and made a wish
I thought of Prosperity, Health ----- and Peace
I wished Happiness would spread ------ around the world
and that all ------- these wars would cease

And just to make ------ my wish come true
Or, just to put ------- my mind at ease
I looked up to the sky ------ and said
a very humble ------- "Please"

I started walking toward ------ the local bar
It was called ----- the Jagged Edge
It was where I changed ------ my life one day
and I made ----- a solemn pledge

Back then ------ my life was miserable
and I was ------- a nervous wreck
And I felt ------ as if the world was just
a noose around my neck

But then one night
at the Jagged Edge
I met a young man
who taught me this pledge:

I pledge to be Honest
I pledge to be Kind
I pledge not to be Angry
and try to find
a higher purpose
to use my mind

I pledge to be Happy
And try not to be Sad
I pledge to do Good
and try not to be Bad

I pledge to bring Light
to the darkest of places
And I pledge to make room
in the tightest of spaces

I pledge to do
the very best that I can
And I promise to be
a much better man

Yes ---- I try to live my life
by this solemn pledge
A pledge I made ----- one night down at
a bar ----- the Jagged Edge

Well ----- I arrived at the bar
which wasn't that far
And when I looked at the sky
I saw a bright star

Then ---- I was suddenly greeted
by a rather large ---- alley cat
and "Welcome" ----- was clearly printed
upon ----- the front doormat

Well ----- I cautiously opened the door
I saw mugs ------ full of beer and foam!
And all of my friends ------ were shouting at me
"Hey, Buddy! ------- Welcome Home!"

[farhanmalik]

your blog is amazing! I love how many different types of poems can be made with all the prompts you post

[jede]

I'm loving this. Is it too late to write something?