April PAD Challenge: Day 23
It’s hard to believe that a week from today I’ll be posting the last prompt of the month. We’re already almost a month older than we were at the end…
It's hard to believe that a week from today I'll be posting the last prompt of the month. We're already almost a month older than we were at the end of March. Time just continues to fly by--even in a poetry challenge, huh?
Well, today's prompt is sympathetic of the fact that time continues its march and that things continue to change and stay the same all at once. Today's prompt is to write about getting older.
No matter your age, everyone gets older with every. single. second. and. heart. beat. Seriously, even my 4-year-old laments over how he's getting older and misses the good old days of not going to preschool and having "to learn stuff."
So, you can lament over your glory days, express your insecurities of being in transition, or brag about how you're at the perfect age to live life completely content (lucky you). I'm guessing y'all will have a lot of fun with this one.
Here's my poem for the day:
"Today"
"Your hard work will pay off today."
-Fortune Cookie
Sometimes I wonder if today is the day
that everything comes together, and I
get the raise and the girl and the parade
through downtown. Is this when I get
my "pay off" for trying? But then, I think
maybe my "pay off" comes every day.
Maybe it's simply the process of getting
from here to there. Maybe my "pay off"
is hard work and two boys who love me,
that moment outside the laundromat
late at night, listening to her voice and
the stillness of a spring evening suddenly
broken by bikers cruising the streets
on their hogs. I'm still just a teenager
at heart and in love with the world, but
sometimes I wonder if today is the day.

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.