Intro
Dear friends,
Welcome to our W3 Poetry Prompt, which goes live on Wednesdays at The Skeptic’s Kaddish.
You may click here for a fuller explanation of W3; but here’s the ‘tldr’ version:
Part I
The main ingredient of W3 is a weekly poem written by a Poet of the Week (PoW), which participants respond to in verse.
Part II
The second ingredient is a writing guideline (or two) provided by the PoW. Guidelines may include, but are not limited to: word counts, poetic forms, inclusion of specific words, and use of particular poetic devices.
Part III
After four days, when the prompt closes, the PoW shall select one participant’s poem as the W3 prompt for the following week, and its author becomes the next PoW.
Simple enough, right?
Okie dokie ~ Let’s do this thing!
I. The prompt poem:
‘Straits, or: Expanses’ by ben Alexander (that’s me!)
I struggle every day to make ends meet Anxieties pummel me into broken gravel Worn ragged, it's a stretch to say I'm free Pressure grinds rough at soul skinned raw Buses; clocks; jobs; child; chores; back|forth I struggle every day to make ends meet Pump me full of alcohol, caffeine, courage Liquid channels wind through foggy stupor Anxieties pummel me into broken gravel Teetering 'tween survival and destruction Feathers in wind gusts sucked into abyss Worn ragged, it's a stretch to say I'm free
II. This week’s prompt guidelines
- Write a ‘Golden Shovel’ poem, using a line (or more) from my poem above.
What’s a ‘Golden Shovel’ poem?
This is a poetic form in which the last word of each line forms (all or part of) a pre-existing poem.
(In other words, you may select a line, two lines, a full stanza, or any segment of the prompt poem, depending upon how long a poem you would like to write.)
III. Submit: Click on ‘Mr. Linky’ below
In order to participate and share a poem, open up this blog post, outside of the WordPress reader. At the bottom, just below these words, you will see a small rectangular graphic with the words ‘Mr Linky’. Click on that to submit.
Submissions are open for 4 days, until Sunday, August 28, 10:00 AM (GMT+3)
Last week’s W3 poem
This week’s W3 prompt poem (above), composed by little ol’ me, was written in response to last week’s W3 prompt poem, which Punam wrote:
‘Calcutta calling’ by Punam Sharma
sitting in the cramped hostel dormitory I measured your rain, that splashed on my hand-washed laundry. Drenching it in petrichor redolent with first crush eating griddle hot kathi roll at the corner street stall I inhaled your smoky, saporous smell and that piquant, fiery taste of you still lingers on my fickle tongue the hole-in-the-wall used-books stores the addas over endless chais* nurtured my hesitant, timorous voice giving it an audience that knew the art of listening you spread your arms like an aging matriarch enfolding my bewildered, unsure self and in the midst of clutter, chaos and cacophony I found I could stand on my feet my buoyant thoughts often meander along the bends of the river Hooghly Calcutta, your captivating ways often have me loitering in the bylanes of the yester years.
I missed the Mr. Linky deadline, but I gave it a try this evening: https://authorsarahdavid.wordpress.com/2022/08/28/into-the-abyss/. This was a challenging one!
💘🙏🏻 Sarah 🙏🏻💘
[…] week, I attempted the W3 prompt at the Skeptic’s Kaddish a bit later than usual! The prompt was to create a Golden Shovel poem using one line from […]
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https://michnavs.wordpress.com/2022/08/27/hear-me-2/
Here is mine
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[…] Written in response to: w3-prompt-17-weave-written-weekly […]
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Thanks for hosting, David. This was an interesting but challenging prompt, thanks for introducing. I hope you enjoy my contribution. 🙂
💜🙏🏻 Aishwarya 🙏🏻💜
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[…] given by the PoW as an inspiration :- David’s (Of Ben Alexander) Straits or Expanses […]
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