2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 15 Poetic Asides
Posted by Robert

In this neck of the woods, today is known as Tax Day. Luckily for me, I'm one of those people who races to finish my taxes in February. However, that doesn't mean life is not without deadlines. In fact, I have several breathing down my neck today, which is appropriate for today's prompt.

For today's prompt, write a deadline poem. You can interpret what a deadline poem is however you wish. Maybe it's a poem that laments the idea of deadlines. Maybe it's a poem about someone intentionally missing them or who never has problems with them (I wish I were that person). Regardless of how you take it, remember that you have until tomorrow before another prompt will be posted. Consider that your poetic deadline.

A few years ago, I read a book by Kevin Brockmeier called The Brief History of the Dead. It remains the one book I wish I had never read. It chronicles the final days of the last person on earth after the population has been decimated by a fast-acting plague. I enjoyed reading the book up until the very end because it left me with a sense of overwhelming despair at the realization that all of the characters - in spite of their grand aspirations - died.

I decided to change the title from Deadline to Headline. I don't know if it works, but I like it.

Headline

Look at them:
Shuffling shambling
wrecks of humanity
Starbucks junkies,
newspapers tucked
under their arms.
Unread headline,
Always the same:
Someone’s dead.
All those words
fade into the
sewer drain.
All those lives:
Hopes
Dreams
Scandals
Schemes.
Pointless.
God, look at us:
Poor bastards.
We all go
the same way.


Thanks for reading!