opening day / of summer vacation looms
hours and hours of unstructure / waiting to be filled
no lesson plans to write / no other people's children to teach
no papers to read and grade / just notebooks to fill with poems
titled or not / capitalized or not / punctuated or not
let ungrammar reign / and feelings and meaning rain / down on the page
don't title / don't limit or restrict
don't set up preconceptions / let them discover
let that be the joy / not the cleverness of your title
forms or free verse / whatever the poem wants to be
just let it / give it permission to be / itself
just to be / to come into being
it doesn't have to do anything / let it be
listen to the Beatles / write a song / let the lyrics flow
give yourself permission / daydream / write
compose in your head / read some untitled poems
journey into their territory / with an incomplete map
you fill it in / they aren't blanks
it's not that kind of not / there is no negativity
just potential / energy inside you / just wanting to be kinetic
but it's not work / it's play / kinetic and kinesthetic
give it voice / fill the air with your words
we need them / I need them / keep them coming
like air / there's more there than you think
go out / and photosynthesize
take in some vitamin D / turn that into a poem
it doesn't need to be a thesis / a funky synthesis will do
a little antithesis / if you want
that goes with untitled / right?
/ / /
This poem was written to the prompt at Poets United to write a poem titled "untitled".
I really needed this. Tomorrow is the last day of my school year. I will be promoting 32 fifth-grade students to middle school. I have been working my tail off to be ready for tomorrow, and I am so ready for a break. Poetry is my sanity.
Richard, I understand how ready you are for summer. Been there, done that! You will soon be free. I hope you write up a storm this summer. I feel as you do. Poetry is my sanity!
ReplyDeleteCongrats and bless you for caring for a difficult age of kid! You definitely deserve a good summer break! Let your brain run wild and read, write, and relax!
ReplyDeleteMary, thanks. My wife has commented more than once in recent weeks how calm I seem; I'm usually stressed out this close to the end of the school year. I attribute a lot of it to writing poems and sharing them with fine people like you.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Lolamouse, thank you. You were posting your comment as I was replying to Mary. I plan on doing lots of reading, writing, and relaxing this summer - and spending quality time with my own children.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Richard...Yes, summer vacation. It looms at the end of next week here. I haven't had much time to sit and write. I love this piece, thanks for taking the time to construct it. It is thoughtful and timely for me.
ReplyDelete~Brenda
Brenda, thanks. I've been so busy, that I've fallen behind on writing poems. You're going to post a new wordle tomorrow and I haven't written a poem to last week's wordle yet. Glad you liked this one; that "untitled" prompt spoke to me.
ReplyDeleteRichard