Today’s optional prompt asks you, like Alice Notley, to think about your own inspirations and forebears (whether literary or otherwise). Specifically, I challenge you today to write a poem that deals with the poems, poets, and other people who inspired you to write poems. These could be poems/poets/people that you strive to be like, or even poems, poets, and people that you strive not to be like. There are as many ways to go with this prompt as there are ways to be inspired.
I borrowed the line ‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind,’ from Bob Dylan’s song by the same name.
Why poetry?
You ask me
Why not prose?
Why do the words tumble in verses
Why not in passages?
You want to know
‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind’
It’s unknown to me.
Why Shakespeare and Wordsworth
You ask me
Why not Dickens and Stevenson?
Why Shelly and Frost
Why not Wilde and Bronte’?
You want to know
‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind’
I would tell you if I knew
I write what I write, what feels right
things that I sight
the things that make me feel light
of blooming flowers, children’s laughter, birds in flight
the sun, the stars and the moon at night
About all that’s between black and white
I call it love, you call it poetry
Why? It’s unknown to me
I write the things that I dare tell nobody
not a soul, not even me
I scribble it in a diary
Pain, heartbreak, failure, fantasy
the words flow in torrents- anger,betrayal, envy
I shed the baggage I carry, my heart no longer feels heavy
I call it confession, you call it poetry-
Why? I would tell you if I knew.
Copyright©2020.lifeateacher.wordpress.com. All Rights Reserved.
Our poetry resource for the day is “Dr. Williams’ Heiresses,” a chapbook published by Alice Notley in 1980. In it, she weaves strange and discursive creation-myth for American poetry, and her own work, as influenced by the work of the poet William Carlos Williams.
Eúnoia 
Beautiful smitha
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Thanks darling🧡
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Omg, totally in love with this poem, beautiful write ❤ Could totally relate to it. This is indeed one of your best poem. ❤ ❤ ❤
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Thank you so much Preethi. So glad it touched you. It’s great to hear from you. How have you been?
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I’m doing fine thank you, how ru?
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Me too dear. Am fine 🙂 thx to Napowrimo the lockdown is bearable🙂
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😊
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Lovely! And I love the Robert Frost quote!
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Yey .this is so beautiful…it made me smile all throughout my read..
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Thank you Mich for reading. So glad it made you smile 🙂 . Take care and stay safe.
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I am deligthed you have my site…it lead me to yours…😊
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I felt the same. So glad to have bumped into yours. Have a lovely day! 🙂
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This is lovely!
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Thank you! So glad you enjoyed reading it.
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You are welcome.
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I really love this poem, Smitha. One of your best poems every. Well done!
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I’m so glad you liked it Robbie. I struggled with this prompt. I have no idea why but I was so stuck…for the longest time. So your comment means a lot. Thank you so much.
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My pleasure, it reads so flawlessly I would never have imagined you struggled to write it.
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Then the time taken was totally worth it. Thanks so much Robbie. Xxx
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