Saturday November 19th, 2011

The exercise:

A four line poem to do with: repetition.

Kat and I worked the local municipal election today and it went pretty well. We got there at 7:30 this morning, the polls opened at 8 and then, aside from half an hour each for lunch and dinner, we worked until the polls closed at 8pm. And then we stayed an extra hour to help clean up and sort ballots and whatnot.

So yeah, a little drowsy now.

Back to the point, one person at each table was required to inform each voter of a few things. I didn't have to do it very often (as my co-worker preferred doing that over registering voters on the computer), but I could see how saying the same thing over and over all day could get a little tiring. Thus the prompt, and thus my take on it.

Mine:

The same words come tumbling out,
Always in the same damned order;
For the love of all that's good,
Someone get me a recorder!

5 comments:

Greg said...

That sounds like a long day, but perhaps if you were sitting down for a lot of it it made a nice change to most of your days farming? I seem to recall that last time I went to vote I took the dog and told the people manning the station that she'd come to vote. They were delighted! Luckily I'd gone late and it was quiet, so I didn't disrupt things too much :)
Heh, I love the poem this week!

Repetition
Green's worried about his repetition,
Sylvestra corrects him: it's reputation.
Dr. Septopus mishears: Green's got a deputation?
And Green's stammer gets lost in all the noise.

Cathryn Leigh said...

Singing in the car on the way to work.
Figuring out the chorus and verse.
Getting them set inside my head,
To write them down before they've fled.

*giggles* I actually do that. Amazing what you can do alone for 30 minutes with the radio off. :}

Alana said...

I've always wanted to be a poll worker for a day. Most people look at me like I'm crazy for saying it, as if it were too boring or just for old fuddy-duddies, but I think it sounds like a great way to spend a civic day!

Great poem and reason for the prompt. I will be back tonight to try out a few of your recent exercises.

Anonymous said...

Repetition
Tick, tock, tick of the clock,
Another day over, another dollar got.
Tick, tock, tick of the clock,
Another day over, another dollar got.

Marc said...

Greg - it was fine until about the 8 hour mark, and then it started to drag pretty badly. At that point I'd have been quite thrilled to see someone bring a dog in!

Those are the perfect three to portray a crossed wires kind of scene :)

Elor - I do something similar if I get a writing idea while driving by myself :D

Alana - we actually quite enjoyed ourselves for the most part. It was neat seeing people I knew, as well as meeting people I didn't. Really felt like part of the community.

And I look forward to your responses to the prompts!

Writebite - ah, a ticking clock... doesn't get much more repetitious than that :)