2024 April PAD Challenge: Day 15
After today’s poem, we’ll be in the exact middle of this poem-a-day challenge, which means it’ll be all easy writing from here, right?
For today’s prompt, write a middle poem. Some people feel stuck in the middle; others like being in the middle of things. There are foods that are known for their middles (like jelly doughnuts and empanadas). So poem your way to, within, or away from the middle today.
Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.
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Later this month, be sure to check out the 3rd annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Writing Virtual Conference with four great presentations put on by award-winning poets covering a variety of topics, including how to put together poetry collections and bring fresh insight to familiar ideas.
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Here’s my attempt at a Middle Poem:
“the pursuit”
i don’t like being on the outside
of things. it’s not that i’m not,
because i often feel i am, but
any nature show will show that
the outside is the place most
of the herd finds itself lost
to predators one at a time
picked off for needing their
space to think things out
and feel and love and doubt
where, of course, is the exact
place i usually am, but i don’t
like to be, yet i find that i can’t
flee or climb my favorite tree,
because all of the thoughts
crash against me like tsunami
eroding me away every night
until all wrongs are put right.
so whether i want it or not,
outside is precisely what i’ve got.