A month ago I dared you all to “jump off the deep end” with me and take up a 100 Themes Writing Challenge.
I may not have said much about it since, but trust me … I haven’t forgotten.
In fact, I’ve decided to start sharing my progress with you. Each time I check off one of the themes, I’ll post both the poem and the prompt here.
Now, I won’t post all of the theme responses … because naturally there’ll be some poems I don’t want to display, or some I want to save for magazine submissions. Most of them, though, you’ll find here.
So, without further ado, the fourth theme (and first reported on this blog) is —
DARK
This one’s a doozy, because the word comes loaded with so many poetic clichés. In my poem, I was determined not to get emo or start talking about killers or vampires. (Ugh.)
If you take up this challenge, I recommend avoiding the first images that come to mind (unless, of course, they’re brilliant). Dig deeper. Find some fresh angle, some interesting twist. Think about all the various interpretations and contexts of the word “dark.”
Then, grab an idea and run.
For me, things came together after I associated “dark” with the black habit worn by Benedictine monks. A friend of mine in the monastery had died not long before, so I started the poem as a tribute to him … but then it grew into something quite different.
Soul’s Night
You wore the soul’s night
longer than some
wear their skins.
You showed me a child’s wing,
iridescent, fallen from a mountain ash
where it had caught and fluttered for years.
You laid it in my palm, and whispered,
“Remember.”
I remember only this—
you wore a heart’s face close to your mouth
and incanted in the darkest hours,
hoping it would open
the light we forgot.
I hope you’ll share a link to your own poem in the comments below — or, alternatively, share someone else’s poem (on the same theme) that you’ve enjoyed.
Looking forward to it!
