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Poetry Prompts

Monday Poetry Prompt: Apply, Sometimes, Success

This week let’s write a poem with the words apply, sometimes and success in it. This is another of those prompts where I randomly choose three words from a list of the top 1000 words in the English language plus a few of my favorites. Believe it or not, I rolled the dice and really got that sequence of words so resist the obvious and post your poems in the comments below.

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About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.

Discussion

11 thoughts on “Monday Poetry Prompt: Apply, Sometimes, Success

  1. Late to this party, but here it is

    My second job was a rousing success
    I applied myself to mastering the art and science of space
    Those days are long gone
    Sometimes the grandest thing in a day is answering the same question again
    I miss the passion project of my younger self

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by Second Act Blogger | January 21, 2022, 10:52 PM
  2. If I apply myself to the problem
    I may find success
    Sometimes….
    No. Every time
    I cannot resist the low hanging fruit
    Call me MOTO
    (Master of the Obvious)

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by JeanMarie | January 17, 2022, 3:42 PM
  3. The wound has scarred up
    even if it were not visible
    anymore

    “Apply liberally as needed”
    the directions said
    Sometimes less, sometimes more
    as the day and wind dictated
    how true to the words I would be

    And now
    here is success
    a normal-looking me
    sticking the course
    to the next valley and beyond

    and you
    full of your navel and cheap booze
    are, as always, unconcerned
    the one you left
    by the ditch has
    crawled out

    not seeking revenge
    but with a hope
    your ditch
    which is still ahead for you
    may be less painful
    but just as transformative
    as the one you left me in

    and that may never have to find out
    if you have the strength to crawl
    when your tribe decides
    you aren’t worth the effort to drag along

    because we both know the answer

    Liked by 2 people

    Posted by Chris Clarke | January 17, 2022, 3:13 PM
  4. Love Passed Down

    I think my Mother wished for me to know
    that she was capable
    of a kind of greatness,
    the kind that puts flesh on love,
    and lives in the reverberation of longing
    for a better, a divine love,
    applied to each beloved.

    She seemed an architect
    of a present and particular
    universe. Witness! Her love of me.

    She washed the windows
    of her expectation for this time,
    this time, it would be true,
    success against all odds, what matter the past?

    This time I would find life tame and graceful,
    pliable, eager to please, loaded down with gifts.

    This time life would be
    a smooth and gallant amble
    coming home windblown and fresh
    to warm stability,
    to tea with cream by the roaring fire.

    Sometimes, it is.

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by ts19page | January 17, 2022, 8:32 AM

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