(Don't worry about posting comments to the prompts! The server that hosts WritersDigest.com and the other blogs has apparently been crashing repeatedly, and the programmers are literally in a position where they have to re-build everything while continuing to re-set the server. If you wish to share the poems, I invite you to do so at my personal blog until this storm passes. The url is http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com. I'll set up a post for November PAD Chapbook Challenge poems and communication. Thanks and sorry, everyone!)

Today is the final day of the challenge! If you've made it this far, then congratulations! It's not been the smoothest month (technologically speaking), but you hung in there. Thanks so much!

Tomorrow, I'll share further rules and guidelines on how to submit chapbook manuscripts and such. Plus, I'm going to be providing chapbook tips throughout the month of December. So be sure to tune in for helpful hints and such.

Also, don't forget to participate in #poettues on Twitter on Tuesdays or our weekly writing prompts on Wednesdays on this here blog. Happy poeming!

*****

For today's prompt, I want you to write a poem about something that will stick with you (or someone/something else). The poem could be about an event, a moment, a song, words said, words unsaid, etc. It should be something memorable.

Here's my attempt for the day:

"The world will worry for you"

Forget speaking in code; forget
telling it slant; here is what happened:

I rose to answer the phone, and then,
lost consciousness. As I lay there,

my breathing grew labored before
stopping altogether. My skin turned

crayon blue; my eyes stayed open.
This is how I've always pictured

my Uncle James when he died alone
on his land in the middle of nowhere.

I still remember grandmother crying out,
"No, no, no," on Easter evening

when my grandfather called. I could
have been found this way, but

Tammy breathed in my mouth, spoke
to my unresponding face. She would not

quit even as I turned less and less
alive. Later that night, grandfather

told us how they found James laying
on his porch with his door open:

"He looked horrible. He looked like
he was in pain." And this is what I can

tell you: I did not feel any pain,
any worry, until I came back to life.

*****

Want to learn how to write poetry from the inside out? Click here to learn more about Writing Poetry From the Inside Out, by Sandford Lyne, as well as other writing reference books at WritersDigestShop.com. 

Monday, November 30, 2009 2:30:44 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [138]