In December I signed up for Two Sylvias Press’s December calendar of prompts. I’m not a writer who can do a new poem every day, but I do find lots to work with so I continue into January, at least, working with the material. I have maybe nine poems in draft so far that might amount to something, but sometimes it’s nice to just play for a bit.
Here’s the prompt for December 21: “A contranym is a word with two opposite meanings, like bolt, which can mean to be secured or to flee. This prompt invites you to write a poem that includes at least 3 contranyms-you will use each word twice in your poem reflecting its two opposing meanings . . . .”
Of course one could write a large and serious poem including this device, but I just had fun:
Down, Down, Down
On a frigid fall day leaves down
from trees increase the risk of falls.
I could grab my down comforter,
curl up in the rocker, or grab my
walking stick, a heavy jacket,
stick to my outdoor plan.
On this sunny day off
I leave town for a trail,
let worries fall off my shoulders
as I think only of my footing
on a rocky downhill slope.
If you’d like to try a month of prompts like this, I believe they will be offering this again for the month of April. I may not be done with December’s by then.
freethoughtandmetaphor 