The NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem that tells a story. But here’s the twist – the story should be told backwards. The first line should say what happened last, and work its way through the past until you get to the beginning. (I found the only way this worked was to leave out capital letters and punctuation.) The WordPress prompt was “Solitude.” I wrote a poem combining the two prompts. Remember to read the post both ways–from the beginning to the end and then from the end to the beginning.
Earned Solitude
it was the beginning of the end
I gained more wine but lost a friend
her face was red, her lips were blue
there was little else to do
she left me very shortly after
I fear I left the room in laughter
by handing her a looking glass
I proved the hypocrisy of the lass
who sat so innocently in her chair
as I rejoined my best friend fair
I’d make an honest woman of her
I meant to blow her good girl cover
I poured my wine, then left the room
as she sat weaving on her loom
the color rich, the flavor fine
one night I brought blueberry wine
though I had seen her taking sips
she claimed no liquor crossed her lips
I was the wild party girl
she was pious—her father’s pearl
Yes, those really are blueberries on the bottle. How fortunate for me that I’d bought a bottle in the local street market a few months ago. As I was puzzling over how to illustrate this poem, I suddenly remembered it! Remember to read the poem backwards from the end as well.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Haha…. yes,no punctuation…. though, I must say, I usually don’t use punctuation, and I have never used so much as during this poetry challenge!!
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I tried and tried to make it work with commas, periods and capitals, but there was no way. If it was good enough for ee, good enough for us!
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Very clever combination, Judy. 😀
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Thanks, Calen.
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This sounds like such a difficult task–great job.
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Thanks, P. I always appreciate your support and approval!!!
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I too struggled with this prompt as I am a forward thinking person, but you did a very nice job of it.. It reads well both forward and backward, however is sad no matter how read. 🙂
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…and by sad, I mean a sad thought in the poem, not sadly written 🙂 Needed to clarify that!:)
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No problem, Leona.. I interpreted it as sad mood not sad effort! Ha…
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Well done! The finish is in the beginning in woodworking.
Sent from my iPad
>
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Now that is an intriguing comment, Ted. Can you expand? Do you mean you have to plan to the end before beginning? I can see why this would be necessary in woodworking, but this assignment was the exact opposite of how I usually work. Good for me, right?
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And it works … in both directions. I’m impressed. Again.
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This one was hard, Marilyn…I wanted so much for it to make sense even punctuated, but couldn’t be done.. plus I had a 2 hour meeting with a plumber and then went to Guad to get an on demand water heater and new patio furniture… and Costco run. Busy day. Blogging suffered. Having a life means something has to go…I’d happily just sit at the computer all day, but at times that isn’t possible..Lots going on right now.
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Fantastic!
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