World poetry day 2023
How A Poem Can Persuade A Man To Move His Truck
Poetry flows into my prose in everyday life
If your truck were to rest on the street at night a few feet ahead or back ever so slight, my car would be spared the injurious plight of the pot hole abyss so plainly in sight. Should you and your truck grant this humble wish twelve cookies you’ll find by your door on a dish.
Poetry has been flowing into my everyday prose more often since I began publishing poems in Medium. It started happening over a year ago, when I had reason to write a note to my neighbor.
I live at the end of a long cul de sac, and there’s only one way in and out. When neighbors park vehicles on the street, it can be difficult to squeeze by.
One day, a neighbor who works a night shift started parking his pick-up truck right next to a giant pot hole, and the truck stayed there all day while he slept. When I left my house in the morning, there was no way to pass without driving through the pot hole. It was a deep one, and I was concerned about car damage.
After bumping and clunking through that hole for a week, I decided it was time to complain. My neighbor must’ve been a heavy sleeper because no one answered his door or phone. So I decided to leave a note on his windshield asking him to park the truck further from the hole.
The note wasn’t planned as a poem, but I was delighted when the first few lines accidentally rhymed. It made me laugh and moved me to continue in rhyming verse. It took a good half hour to scrawl that note, and it was time well spent.
The next day, Voilà! The truck was parked 3 yards forward and my car and I passed by with ease. As promised in the note, I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies the next day and left them on my neighbor’s porch with a tiny thank you card.
Afterwards, there was one issue still unresolved. Which was more persuasive, the promised cookies or the poetic form? Perhaps it was the combination of both.
This poem is a response to Carolyn Hastings’ thematic prompt: World Poetry Day — Always be a poet, even in prose (Charles Baudelaire). Many thanks to Carolyn, the Paper Poetry publication, and all its editors for this wonderful outlet for poems.
Calling on Amy Lee Kite, Morgan Lahm, Breathe & Be Still, Srini, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, and all other interested writers to participate in this and other prompts from Paper Poetry. Here is Carolyn’s article with more information:
