This week's Big Tent Poetry prompt was a Wordle comprised of 12 words. These words happened to have been read over the shoulder of a woman by one of our circus leaders while she was stranded at an airport. The twelve words are: wake, gasp, slip, smile, thigh, defy, parade, tangle, boyish, typical, question, flame. For a bonus, we were asked to use one of three additional phrases she pilfered from this unsuspecting fellow traveler's novel: “Say more,” “There is also the matter of ____” and “He started by _____.”I loved this and it brought out the quirky in me. This isn't so much a poem as a little excerpt of narrative. Please don't ask me about process. It just blurted out in about 2 minutes after looking at the words.
drifting off
Mr. Smith, I need to ask a few questions
about your daughter's odd behavior.
You see, and please don't gasp,
it is more than typical for her to
tangle her hair in the middle of class.
I don't mean twist her locks, I mean
really, really tangle.
She bares her teeth along with her
tattooed thigh underneath her
tie-dye slip of a dress –
and only to the male teachers, mind you.
Her crooked smile, flame-red hair,
and boyish figure flaunted,
are attracting a parade of weirdos
by her locker, and I defy you to explain
how this once high honors student
is failing every subject except for
Home and Careers.
There is also the matter of . . .
Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith!
Wake up! I am talking to you.
Copyright © 2011 Nan P.
17 comments:
Clever take on the prompt. Vivid and a little naughty, too. I really like the way the wordle words flow naturally.
This is wonderful, Laurie - surreal, surprising, quirky and FUN
Wow, poor girl.
A terrific take.
You had fun! I love the scenario.
You got me to worrying about that girl...
Oh, I love this! I see girls like her all the time and, unfortunatley, parents like Mr. Smith, too, who don't care!
nan, you painted quite the scene
here. It is too bad there are
actually parents like Mr. Smith.
Well done to the prompt.
Pamela
What fun. I know that girl.
Vivid and vibrant - nice work!
Made me smile...cleverly done. Vb
I just noticed the 'Light a candle' on your sidebar.
Very comforting.
I really enjoyed this one. Such a naughty girl.
So good. Loved it!
rivulets of space
Due to Census work for the past one month, I have not been able to visit and comment. I will be back with a vengeance after a day or two!
Thank you for the comments, friends. In writing this, I thought about three perspectives: that of the narrator (teacher? guidance counselor? school administrator?), that of the student, and that of the student's father. They all had different perspectives on the reality of the situation. It is interesting to see that each reader may relate to one perspective more than another, and granted, I gave the narrator the voice, but that didn't mean that I related only to that person. Did you think the narrator was a male or a female? I am still not sure. We know the genders of the student and the father. Just some hmmmm thoughts.
Like what you wrote. Funny but sad too.
Wow! What a story! Sad, well said. And you know, as I read it, the narrator was a female for me. But I don't really know why.
very fine tuned story.
enjoyed the word flow.
cheers
I tried, here is mine:
http://itistimetothinkformyself.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-tent-poetry-in-55-words.html
Thanks for reading.
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