no pomp, but circumstance

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Complete (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem. Possible titles include: “Complete Best Day I Ever Had,” “Complete Guide to Writing Poems,” “Completely Wrong Way,” and “Completed Set.” — Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest

Completely incomplete

It’s five or six weeks
until high school graduation,
Class of 2019.

I can’t help but think about —
even dwell on —
what Rader is supposed to be doing right now.

Senior project would be complete.
College applications, complete.
Cap and gown order. Graduation announcements. Summer plans.

First week of June
is the last time we will know
with any confidence
what Rader would have been doing,
if he were still here.

Five or six weeks.
Soon.
Complete.

perspective

For today’s prompt, write a dark poem. Cave poems, poems at night, and no electricity poems — these are all appropriate for today’s prompt. Of course, dark has several other connotations as well. An underdog is often known as a dark horse, a villain may have a dark heart, and Batman is known as the Dark Knight. Heck, when I was little, I thought Darth Vader was Dark Vader. — Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest

Perspective

I get that it feels crushing
when your kid has worked
so hard
to see them passed over for awards
and recognition at the end of high school

But the award I wish
I were seeing presented
would be one that says
”Lived Through It”

[I don’t generally let my dark nature out into the light of day; so much so that I feel the need to write some kind of disclaimer here. What I’ve written above is an accurate reflection of thoughts and feelings I have had. But I don’t believe that a hierarchy of tragedies is helpful. The hardest thing that has ever happened to you is still the hardest thing that has ever happened to you, however it might compare to someone else’s hardest thing. I understand the disappointment of the parents whose kid didn’t get awarded enough of a scholarship to such-and-such U, or didn’t even get accepted. It’s hard to see the future not play out for your child the way you imagined. Not having a future is also hard.]