Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Time to row


I am participating in EthicalELA's September 5-Day Open Write

Today's poetry prompt was called "Magic-9" - nine lines in the rhyming scheme "ABACADABA" (note the pun?)...inspired by a favorite quote.

My quote was from a UCC Daily Devotional meditation I read just this morning, written by Matthew Laney, entitled "That Sinking Feeling" :

"We can't know what it means to be lifted up until we know what it means to sink."


My poem:


Falling, drowning, sinking low

Pervasive sense of overwhelm

No way out, nowhere to go

Soaked and inundated

Justice swept by undertow

We must not give up

Integrity and truth must flow

Let's be together at the helm

It's time to shout, it's time to row 




I received these comments on the Ethical ELA website:


Stacey Joy

Wow, Maureen, the flowwwww! Brilliant choices in rhymes and visuals! I felt like I was moving with each line! Loved the end!
“It’s time to shout, it’s time to row.” Bravo!!!!

Barb Edler Maureen, the word choice throughout your poem is incredible. So much energy and all the water imagery flows so well to your final phrase: “it’s time to row” I couldn’t agree more!


Sharon B. I love it, Maureen! This offers so much inspiration, something I desperately need right now.

Anna Roseboro

Maureen, your poem reminds me of my favorite song from HAMILTON, “In the Room Where it Happens”!

Let’s be together at the helm
It’s time to shout, it’s time to row.


Erica Johnson

What a great use of the rhyme scheme of the poem and I appreciate how it doesn’t end badly, but with a call to action. I especially appreciate your use of the phrase “soaked and inundated” because I really think it contributes to the imagery of being in a storm-tossed sea and having to row for survival — to not sink or drown.

Denise Krebs

I love the transition line in the middle. Justice is in danger, and so the switch. Integrity and truth, staying together. Yes, let’s do this. 

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