The exercise:
I can't be bothered to think up a proper prompt, so today we're returning to the fan favorite Random CD Prompt. Click on the label below for previous examples, but the basic idea is to steal the first line of a random song and use it as the first line for your poem or prose.
Got a bit of packing done today, along with some chucking of stuff that we won't need at the new place. Moving day is Saturday, so it's nice to have a bit of time to get through everything. I'll probably do some more tonight.
Mine:
Bad Kids by Black Lips
Bad kids, all my friends are bad kids -
Does that make me a bad kid too?
I mean, I know I ain't too good,
But I ain't near as bad as Drew.
I heard, I heard he's been to jail,
And that he's shot a man or two.
Well yeah, I got myself a gun -
In this city there ain't no choice.
That is, if you want off these streets,
Or to get inside a Rolls Royce.
So yeah, I must be a bad kid,
But these bullets give me a voice.
4 comments:
This is a proper prompt! And it's always nice to come back to a (relatively) easy prompt now and then, I appreciate it.
A whole week to pack! I bet you still end up on Thursday evening with Kat asking why there's still so much to pack if you've been off all week... ;-)
(Oh, and chucking stuff away is the best bit of moving -- looking at things and wondering why you ever kept them!)
I really like your poem today, and I can't actually single out any lines as being better than all the rest. My favourite are probably the last couplet though.
Picture Perfect Memories by Lady Antebellum
Picture perfect memories
Of a Grecian summer's day,
Sat outside with Thetis
(And her forty-nine sisters),
Just waiting for the tsunami.
Every drop of water, suspended,
Caught between the air and earth,
The roar of a wounded God's pride,
Or of a Goddess giving birth?
The tsunami strikes so fast.
Picture... Picture perfect,
Picture perfect memories.
I recollect every instant, every atom,
Of the wave that brought me here.
The Elysian fields are no place for the young.
This isn't an easy prompt for me (complicated about the CDs with my kids around). I did try it, but all I did was get a song stuck in my head -- couldn't compose something new off it. :)
So I thought I would share something I'm working on, instead. Suggestions are welcome, it's kind of stuck. I'm thinking of switching to a different form, perhaps cascade or villanelle.
The poem:
She waited for him
All through the night
Orange skirt on skin
Impatient with truth
All through the night
She held herself ready
Impatient for truth
His entering in
She held herself ready
Wore the skirt he loved
His entering in
The meeting with the knife
He loved the skirt she wore
The meeting with the knife
She waited for him,
Orange skirt on skin.
---------
More comments: The idea is she's planning to kill him when he shows up (because he forced her to do more than she wanted on their last date), but she wants him to see her wearing her favorite skirt. I got the idea from another writing prompt and one of Heather's stories. I love the pantoum form, but it doesn't always work with what I want to write.
Sorry about the long post. Hope no one minds.
Greg - regarding your comment about Thursday night... you know me too well :)
I'm glad you liked mine, and I think your second stanza is particularly fantastic.
Morganna - ah, there is always that danger. I'll often just Google the song lyrics without listening to it, just to avoid being overly influenced by the rest of the song :)
I really like the pantoum as well, but I'm not sure it works here. I think the 'his entering in' line comes across a bit awkward. But if that gets replaced with something that fits a bit better I think you might be able to pull it off.
Thanks for the advice. And I got the lyrics stuck in my head just by thinking of the song and its first line. :)
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