2011 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 2
All right! From just scanning, it appears the first day went very well. But now things get tricky, because it is the second day. (Cue: Evil Laugh) For today’s prompt,…
All right! From just scanning, it appears the first day went very well. But now things get tricky, because it is the second day. (Cue: Evil Laugh)
For today's prompt, use an epigraph to kickstart your poem. That is, use a quotation. You can use a favorite of your own, or if you're having trouble thinking of one, I've provided a few below. To format an epigraph poem, a poet places the quotation between the title and the body of the poem, while also giving credit to the source of the quotation.
Example quotations:
"Our homes are on our backs and don't forget it," -Molly Peacock
"Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much." -Oscar Wilde
"Every noble work is at first impossible." -Thomas Carlyle
"Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes." -Jim Carrey
"A friend doesn't go on a diet because you are fat." -Erma Bombeck
Here's my attempt:
"Here I Come"
"This time, you can trust me."
-Lucy Van Pelt (via Charles M. Schultz)
Signed document or not,
you know my foot cannot
resist a challenge, not
that I expect this knot
inside me to unknot
itself. Your trust is not
what I crave. Like dry snot
on my sleeve, I do not
want this thing I cannot
kick, so ready or not...
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Connect with me on Twitter @robertleebrewer
And report your progress and share funny quotes using the #novpad hashtag.
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With the book, Writing the Life Poetic, by Sage Cohen, you will find ways to incorporate more poetry into your life on a daily basis. It's filled with prompts, revision techniques, poetic forms, and more.

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.