Weekly Poetry Prompt 13/03/2021 - NEW FORMAT!

First order of business:

You'll notice that this prompt has a slightly different format. I'm posting this as a question. This means that all of your responses can be 'upvoted' by other users. At the end of the week, the response with the most votes will be featured on The Poetry Cove Instagram. So whether you respond to the prompt or not, be sure to upvote the poem(s) you like. Remember: here at The Poetry Cove, we lift each other up.

Now, onto prompt 3: The Weird Prompt

I have a confession to make: I attend a weekly workshop (via Zoom, of course) and each session, we're given a prompt for us to work with for the following week. So far, I've been using these prompts as inspiration for The Poetry Cove prompts. And this week's, well, I definitely couldn't resist using this prompt.

Read ...shift at the oars by Stacy Szymaszek

I know what you're thinking: It's a strange poem, right? No disrespect to Stacy, of course, I'm sure she'd think my poems are strange. But it is odd and try as I might, I can't actually find a meaning. Even with extremely complex poems, there's usually a line that speaks to me. But this just looks like a string of words.

After a brief google, I found this review of Stacy's book 'Emptied of All Ships' which does provide an interesting perspective of this poem:

From the title of the poem “shift at oars” we imagine a boat being rowed in the “reservoir” of a great lake, and its potential energy. A sequence emerges that is impervious to changes of time, space, and—insofar as possible—shifts in technology. You can’t deconstruct a Szymaszek poem. —Bill Sylvester, Ecopoetics (taken from https://www.stacyszymaszek.org/emptied-of-all-ships )

So, what's the prompt? Well, as always, you can do whatever you want. If you're particularly adventurous, perhaps you could try to write your own poem in Stacy's unique style, writing one or two word lines, perhaps even pushing the boundary the links between those words.

On the other hand, you might be more inspired by a particular word or even the title.

Personally, I'm writing about the first (and only) time I went canoeing.

Just a reminder to not be intimidated by such a complex poem. Remember: there's no right or wrong way to respond to a prompt.

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with :)