Saturday, April 2, 2011

To All the Dead Poets

i'm continuing to post everyday for NaPoWriMo.  I thought about their prompt that addresses writing about a scenario where you die.  However, a good friend lost her grandpa today and somehow i needed a lighter version on the prompt, so i chose to modify it and imagined instead a scene where i am able to bring the dead back to life. 



     To All the Dead Poets

I wish you had been born
in this modern day and age
of pharmacology,
psychatrists,
and overeager drug representatives

Sara, i would give you Prozac
and art therapy
where you would realize he wasn't worth it
and that you don't need to swing from rope
to prove a point.

Anne, for you it would be Zoloft
to chase away those lonely nights
Soon you would laugh childishly
Not from carbon monoxide
but the way
the bird shit looks like The Scream
on the windshield of your car

Virginia, my overdramatic one!
A little Wellbutrin and fingerpainting
would be your medicine.
Silly Virginia! Don't you know
Rocks are for skipping and
Oceans are for skinny-dipping?

And last but not least:
Sylvia, dear Sylvia.
You would get the highest dose of Xanex,
some Play-Doh and knitting needles
and remember ovens are for baking

We could have a slumber party
whisper secrets and paint each others' toes;
Anne's bra would get put in the freezer
because she fell asleep first
Virginia would cry during Truth or Dare
(as she always chooses Dare, then Truth).

We would put our sleeping bags
in a circle,
tell ghost stories until
the apparitions became real...
only to then be chased away
but the early light
of Saturday morning cartoons

10 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Oh, I really like your take on this one. Many of my favorites and it eases the anger created by their actions. They went silent far too soon. Thank you for this one,

Elizabeth

Naquillity said...

what a wonderful take on the prompt. i'm sure they would love their tribute as much as i did. have a great day.

Lena said...

I love how you put your on spin on the prompt. It is better than what they intended.

Marian said...

can i come to that party?

mshatch said...

very nice tribute.

M. A. S. said...

I really like your different take on this prompt. I also like the way you were vivid about death without being graphic.
Very nice.

PhotoDiction said...

Wonderful vignettes spinning life and visions of hope. I like that you put a more hopeful spin and what I would find to be a macabre assignment.

Mary said...

What a clever idea. if only....so many more wonderful poems would have been written@

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your twist on today's prompt! Well done! :)

Ann Grenier said...

Beautiful---I have tears in my eyes---