Friday, August 04, 2017

Poetry Sisters Write About Statues in the Park

The challenge the poetry sisters took up this month was to write a poem with the title "Statues in the Park." Beyond this simple directive, the rest of the prompt was wide open.

When I first began brainstorming, I couldn't get past freeze tag and the image of children as statues in the park. That's where I started writing my first poem, but when I chose to write a pantoum, the form took my poem in a different direction.

Statues in the Park

Around the statues in the park
scores of children run and play
it’s only quiet after dark
when the day’s been put away

Scores of children run and play
under watchful eyes of stone
when the day’s been put away
the statutes still are not alone

Under watchful eyes of stone
rabbits turn to watch the sky
in the park they’re not alone
there’s an owl flying by

Rabbits turn to watch the sky
there’s more than quiet in dark
when an owl’s flying by
they freeze like statues in the park

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2017. All rights reserved.

In case you're wondering, there are animals that freeze in defense. (In regards to this poem, rabbits are not actually nocturnal, but rather are crepuscular, or most active in the twilight hours of sunrise and sunset.)

You can read the poems written by my poetry sisters at the links below. Andi may not be poem-ing right now, but she's still in our hearts and keeping up with us as time allows.
I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Donna at Mainely Write. Happy poetry Friday friends.
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4 comments:

  1. Sara8/04/2017 8:05 AM

    I LOVE it that your form shaped your poem in a new way. I found the turns of the pantoum to continually surprise me, as I watched the park change from day to night, with motion stopping and starting, and repeating again. (Also: What's a game to kids is life and death for rabbits!)

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  2. tanita✿davis8/04/2017 10:54 AM

    Honestly, a pantoum is such a sturdy, useful form, is it not? All that repetition, and then suddenly, you're saying something ...unexpected. I like this - freeze tag as practice for danger from overhead. Perhaps the rabbits watched and commented upon the kids' skills.

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  3. laurasalas8/04/2017 5:47 PM

    This is fabulous, Tricia. It went a totally different direction than I was expecting it to go, too. I love bringing in the animals using freezing as a defense mechanism. Puts a whole new spin on freeze tag. What if you couldn't be tagged when you were frozen?

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  4. Tanvi8/08/2017 8:06 AM

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