Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Best Friend


“One loyal friend is worth 10 thousand relatives” 
― Euripides

Famous best friends in literature and media:

Hamlet and Horatio
Celia and Rosalind
Romeo and Mercutio
Elizabeth and Charlotte
Tom and Huck
Butch and Sundance
Calvin and Hobbes
Charlotte and Wilbur
Frodo and Sam
Peter Pan and Tinkerbell
Dorothy and Toto
Pooh and Piglet
Sherlock Homes and Doc Watson
C3PO and R2D2
Thelma and Louise
Mary and Rhoda
Laverne and Shirley
Buffy and Willow
Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine and Robin
Abilene and Minny



I know you can add more names to this list, and hope you let me know who in your comments below.  But your poem?  


Midweek Motif ~ Best Friend

  • Let your poem take you in a direction that doesn't name drop but is rich in experience. 
  • Dare I limit you to 80 words or less?  I won't insist, but try.  When I think of the role of a best friend's presence or absence in my life, in my father's life or in teams and military service, a lot of words come.



And when I listen to this sentimental song, I feel all mushy inside.


Here are three inspiring poems:
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW  (88 words)

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
             I found again in the heart of a friend.

BY COLETTE LABOUFF ATKINSON  (148 words)

Before boys, Susan drove me to work, for teriyaki takeout on Manchester past Lincoln Boulevard. Inseparable, we planned winter and Easter vacations. In the stairwell, I tried to talk. She cut me off. Her echo was loud ....
(Read the rest of this prose poem HERE.

Tableau by Countee Cullen  (71 words)

Locked arm in arm they cross the way
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day
The sable pride of night.

From lowered blinds the dark folk stare
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.

Oblivious to look and word
They pass, and see no wonder
That lightning brilliant as a sword
Should blaze the path of thunder. 



Please:  
1.      Post your poem with it best friend motif  on your site, and then link it here.
2.      Share only original and new work written for this challenge. 
3.      Leave a comment here.
4.      Honor our community by visiting and commenting on others' poems.

(Next week's Midweek Motif is Public Protest.)

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24 comments:

  1. More or less.
    A bit of a twist.
    You stopped my sonnet in its tracks :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for being here, Jo-hanna. Someday, that sonnet may find another ending. Meanwhile it speaks volumes.

      Delete
  2. Welcome to Midweek Motif, Poets! I'll be in and out today from my window seat on Amtrak from Philly up to Albany, NY. I'm throwing a suitcase together now to leave 30th Street Station at 10:55. Then I'll visit this evening from my Mom and Dad's house. Have a wonderful day thinking of Best Friends and creating something new for us, for you, and even for he or she ....

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  3. Thanks Susan this inspired a poem after spending a week in hospice with my best friend's dad.

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  4. Thank you Susan for a wonderful prompt where feelings are profound and so much can be expressed You are yourself a poet's best friend -

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Mid-Week, fellow poets! Susan, I envy you the train trip, and that you have parents to visit, still. Wonderful that you see them so often. I am intrigued by the something new" you hint at.......I dashed off a short one. I have some very special best human friends. But when it comes to the one and only, that title goes to Pup, as always. Best friend I ever had.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm coming around to read now. The WIFI didn't work on Amtrak, so I'm writing from Upstate NY.

      Delete
  6. This was a lot more fun with story characters!

    Mine is up at: https://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/hatter-n-hare/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you don't want to do the Linky, you could simply paste your poem here.

      Delete
  7. Thank you for the prompt it got me thinking of best friends and summer days of youth.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for giving me feedback on the prompt .Strange is good.

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  9. I'm so glad I have a poem for this week's motif. The list of friends above was fun to read and remember. My faves are Dorothy and Toto; Tom and Huck; Calvin and Hobbes; C3P0 and R2D2...lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. Of course we all immediately think of the best friend of our youth and I am no exception. So I wrote one from this prompt because I really didn't have anything already written that fits. I'm also happy that you chose this because it let me realize that there is something unresolved there for me. Perhaps I can find him . . .

    ReplyDelete
  11. I deleted the last several comments that were individual concerns rather than Poets United. I let them ride in error. In future, rather than use The Poets United comment section, please work out problems with something an individual said privately through email or individual blogs. Let us know if there is a larger problem. And enjoy the diverse poetry of Poets United, letting us enjoy your own powerful contributions. Thank you!
    Susan for Poets United

    ReplyDelete
  12. Saturday! I close this prompt to make room for Sunday's pantry. Consider posting Best Friend poems tomorrow too.

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  13. I'm new to Poet's United and am happy to be here reading the many interpretations of this prompt.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely poem from Henry Longfellow. This is a nice prompt.

    ReplyDelete

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