“Day 10 has arrived: let’s end the course with a bang. Sonnets, chiasmus, the future — en garde!”
The poetry prompt for the final day of Writing 201 is “the future.”
The form is the “Sonnet.”
The device is “chiasmus.”
(Click on the link above for the full assignment explanation.)
Past Halfway Through
Looking at my life, now past halfway through,
will the future take me, or will I take the future?
At a younger age, more naive, I thought I knew.
Older now, but not yet old, I find myself unsure.
Is it better to clutch aspirations and dreams,
or hold a plan in hand, undeterred, yet gently.
Cradled, nurtured, unfolding. How recently, it seems,
have I begun to fly with expanded wings intently.
A “mature” woman in the land of the free and the home address
of youth, I concede uncertainty seems most certainly certain.
Defined by family, cast as best supporting actress,
I gather my own self and proceed toward the final curtain.
My action resolute, a sense of independence growing,
yet, I accept the unknown as life’s living showing.
Copyright © 2015 Terry Boswell
These past two weeks, participating in the WordPress Writing 201: Poetry workshop have been a lot of fun, but challenging as well. The event nudged me out of my comfort zone and required considerable effort. I wrote and rewrote into the wee hours more than a few times to wrestle with the daily prompt, form, and device.
I have never considered myself a writer, but after this workshop I feel I can consider writing, writing more frequently, and perhaps with more ease.
Thank you Ben Huberman and Denise Williams for all your effort, and thank you to all the workshop participants who were so supportive with comments, follows, and likes!
I love these thought-provoking lines:
/ Is it better to clutch aspirations and dreams, / or hold a plan in hand, undeterred, yet gently. / Cradled, nurtured, unfolding.
You make such a good point there. I’ll try to take the second option.
Thank you for sharing
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Thank you! Yes, clutching anything is probably a bad idea.
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But an instinctive act when you are falling…
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You know, I had first written in my comment above that sometimes clutching is necessary, even though probably a bad idea. Then I deleted it. You must have read my mind. When falling, clutching or grasping might save us and allow us to gain a solid footing to get back to the “gently holding” state.
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I enjoyed immensely to follow your your journey.
Well done!
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Thank you! I made it through! 🙂
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You’re welcome.
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Love your chiasmus, it’s one of the best I’ve seen, it has such meaning to it. 🙂
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Thank you so much! This was a tough assignment to do!
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My sonnet and yours said pretty much the same thing but in different ways. I love your photos and look forward to following you even though Writing 201 is now done sniff sniff
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Yes, they are similar, but I think yours is more eloquent 🙂 I look forward to following you too, and I’ll try to keep up the writing even though Writing 201 has ended!
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