April 1, 2008

national what?

April is National Poetry Month. This is one month I can cheer for, promote and encourage. Go April! (It helps that April is also my birthday month, but we'll talk about that later.)

Tonight, sitting snugly in our second-favorite booth at Panera, Miss Pottenger stumbled upon a poetry challenge being issued by Writer's Digest. The challenge is to write a poem each day in April using provided prompts. We took it.

The first prompt was to write a poem about firsts/beginnings. I scanned a few of the offerings (you can post your poem in the comments on the blog) and then picked a first I thought would be unique. Here is my "first" poem...

Donating

Painless is not the word
you want to hear from the one
holding a needle above your vein,
because so often they lie.
The prick, the trespass under my skin
to take the red gushing liquid
that keeps me going, stings.
I watch my blood travel
away from me, so unnatural.
I move away from the world,
letting the room go black—
staring at the edges, creeping
to the center. My eyes betray my journey
and someone comes to rescue me.
A prince in blue scrubs lifts my feet
into the air to keep me from fainting—
I though he should have caught me.

(c)SDD 2008

You can check out the challenge here. I'll be trying for one each day. Join me!

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