Finally, here’s our (optional) prompt for the day. Begin by reading Charles Simic’s poem “The Melon.” It would be easy to call the poem dark, but as they say, if you didn’t have darkness, you wouldn’t know what light is. Or vice versa. The poem illuminates the juxtaposition between grief and joy, sorrow and reprieve. For today’s challenge, write a poem in which laughter comes at what might otherwise seem an inappropriate moment – or one that the poem invites the reader to think of as inappropriate.
Happy writing!
Matriculation – First day’s class;
New life, new space, new Me.
A chance to do much more than pass;
From self-clasped cuffs set free.
Then ringing phone (wall-bound back then);
I answered, light of heart.
Collapsed to floor then grabbed a pen;
The funeral plans to start.
defying atrophy 