W3 Prompt #23: Wea’ve Written Weekly

Posted on by ben Alexander

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:

‘In Praise of What is Private’ by Steven S. Wallace

Were I to say what truly mattered
Upon whose winds my hopes are scattered
My voice I would lift up in praising
The ever clever turn of phrasing
That speaks in riddled kabuki notes
Smiles, shakes hands and counts the votes
At all times cultivating ease
Starting scenes that only please

Behind the glint of twinkling eyes
Refrigerates an icy prize
That privacy has sealed up tight
You — my circling satellite
Secrets on the midnight ceiling 
Vaulted locked never revealing
This my love — what truly mattered
My shell facade has just been shattered

II. Steven’s prompt guideline

‘Superiority to Fate’

Superiority to Fate
Is difficult to gain
’Tis not conferred of Any
But possible to earn

A pittance at a time
Until to Her surprise
The Soul with strict economy
Subsist till Paradise.

    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, October 9, 10:00 AM (GMT+3)

    Last week’s W3 poem

    This week’s W3 prompt poem (above), composed by Steven S. Wallace, was written in response to last week’s W3 prompt poem, which Deepthy wrote:

    ‘Blinding Noise’ by Deepthy 

    Fiery red does my soul burn and sizzle,
With eyes shut – lost, drowning in noise so bleak;
Purple, yellow and neon green; chisel
These puzzling monochrome thoughts – rather meek;
Drowning in boundless, brownish worlds; to seek
Vision in pearls, among chaos so black,
With stunning ruby words stabbing the back,
I curl up in this sapphire dream of peace
Emerald promises, speech so lilac,
And pastel hopes this blinding noise will cease.

    64 thoughts on “W3 Prompt #23: Wea’ve Written Weekly”

        1. Yeah, I read it…but still 🙄 seems to be going over my head..the prompt says no particular style but okay why the dickenson sigh, 🫤

          1. think of it this way –

            How did I respond to the poem that you sent me?

            I read your poem, and then I wrote a poem in whatever form/style I wanted, which was inspired by your words.

            That’s exactly the prompt that Steven is offering us – except, instead of reading a poem that you sent me and writing a piece in response… we are reading a poem by Emily Dickinson and writing a piece in response to her!

            Whatever comes to your heart ❤

            1. Ok gotcha…see took awaile, I thought it was in response to his poem, hence my confusion. I don’t do prompts very often 😂

    8. I could almost swear that the ode was written to a secret lover
      At first
      Only by research
      It was all for privacy
      Spoken seductively

      The strength of the soul
      I assume shall endure
      Till heaven doth open door

      Otherwise, come over here and describe this mystery

    10. Thank you! I absolutely love Deepthy’s poem and her excellent prompt which is the heartbeat of mine. Honored to follow as PoW. Hope folks enjoy the prompt! — SSW

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