Somewhere Else. (Over the Rainbow)

We Write Poems has provided us with a fun "B1" prompt from Barbara. We were to reinvent ourselves, imagining ourselves to be someone somehow different . . . and then send ourselves "into some well known story, song, poem, fairy tale, TV series; pick some place that has already been realized and populated. . . . Give yourself permission to be different!" I had some fun with this one.

Somewhere Else. (Over the Rainbow)

Yellow brick road, my ass.
It peels right up.
It’s vinyl.

The flying monkeys
were a treat.
To clean up after.

And so I walked right up
to the man behind the curtain
and said, step off, jerk.

Set’s closed.
I’ve got to get outta here.
You’re on my time now.

The poppies?
Oh they were real, alright.


Copyright © 2011 Nan P.


[Notes: This poem is best read muttered . . . from a bar stool. It was written by bitter Janitor Joe from the set of a well-loved film.]

Weird Post Script: I did my write before I read Barbara's original poem. I picked a famous film, not knowing she had used a famous film. I wrote the last stanza about the poppies first, and then wrote the rest of the poem to precede it. "Nodding red poppy" is how Barbara's poem begins! When I went to create this post and copy in my poem, I decided to link in her original -- so went to her site and saw that opening line. Truly, it was one of those Twilight Zone moments. Uncanny!