Prompted Poetry

Thursday’s Child

Thursday’s child is full of woe

no, that’s Wednesday,

so we’re told

Thursday’s child wakes

pissed as hell

Microsoft updates

sure ain’t swell

page displays and

formatting styles

have disappeared

causing no smiles

and all the rhymes

she had in her head

when sleeping, dreaming,

and up out of bed

evaporate in redesign ire

distracted from poeming,

stuck in the mire

for sure Thursday’s child

ain’t full of grace

with angry veins popping

all over her face

Prompt: Write a Thursday poem

To Your Health

Slainte skol sante

I drink good health to ye

Prost salud saluti

I drink good health to me

Na zdrowie yamas cheers

I drink good health to we

Honor the gods with a drink

if such is a thing you think

Together your glasses clink

to scare away evil’s brink

of illness, ensure the pink

Drink to good health with coffee

Or water or broth or tea

Imbibe the touted kombucha

But sip if you must the booze, ja?

Prompt: Write a health poem

Drawing by Valery Vasilyeu on Vecteezy

Toxic Specialness

You’re special they said

we picked you out

from a smorgasbord

of abandoned babies

secreted away

then matched to order

made to fulfill fantasies

of unrelated relations

You’re special they said

changing your name

before your diapers

unwanted origins discarded

truth hidden

approved of when you fit in

their idea of who

you should be for them

punishing true specialness

right out of you

You’re special they said

so must conform to

rules and beliefs

of last century norms

no one will love you

like we do

be grateful

suppress your own needs

repress your instincts

ours is the only right way

You’re special they said

and it became a curse

of expectations

she couldn’t live up to

didn’t want to

they’d bought her and

thought that purchased

her heart and loyalty

but that would belong

to the one who would

open the toxic cage

of undeserved baggage

and set her free

Prompt: Write a special poem

Never Futile

Remember when truth mattered

Evidence of personal integrity

Silencing doubts, killing conspiracies

Illuminating herstory, flaws and all

Standing up for unadorned facts and

Too often unchallenged power

Trust emanated from truth’s

Yardstick measuring constancy

Reliability, compassion, fairness

Abundant then, absent

Now as if erased from morality

Narcissism crushing a humanity

Yearning to reclaim her voice

Prompt: Write a form poem - I chose an acrostic form in which the first letter of each line also conveys a message

Inspired by the Writer's Digest

Poem A Day Challenge each November

To Your Health

Never Futile