
I collect myself and all my possessions, worn
and piled up beneath the light of the ragged
waning moon. Too late says the night, it’s
too late. Too many calamities to count. A
summoning will not suffice. Too few doors stretch
open. Too many openings shrink closed. To
the weight of the world I say:
Give me hope for a reprieve. Mercy. I’m
in need of unburdening. Forgiveness. To be free.

A golden shovel poem for the W3 prompt, using this line from David’s prompt poem:
Worn ragged, it’s a stretch to say I’m free.
OK you made me look more than twice. Good words. And Marvin Gaye, indeed!
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thanks Neil. We can always use more Marvin Gaye!
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Hi Kerfe, a strong poem. I read it twice.
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Thanks Robbie.
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Yes, we need more doors to open, and more barriers to be broken down…
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We do indeed. Thanks Ingrid.
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That’s the same as yesterday’s dverse prompt, but harder. You make it look easy, and yes, Marvin Gaye!
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Thanks Jane. I’ve been neglecting dverse. My writing is kind of in a funk. But Marvin Gaye is always appropriate.
Did you see you were published yesterday on the Ekphrastic Riview? A wonderful piece!
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I stayed away from dverse altogether for a while and go back to it now when I feel like working on the prompt. Often what they produce isn’t what I’d call a poem, and if it was allowed, I’d have done it differently and used different words, but the challenge keeps my brain working.
I did see the Ekphrastic results. I’m glad they took it. I enjoyed working on the details.
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I think my submission wasn’t specific enough. It will show up somewhere eventually.
I seem to only be able to manage one or two prompts a week right now. I haven’t done Colleen’s for a couple weeks either.
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I don’t ever know what they’re looking for exactly. I know that most of the time, the pieces that are chosen don’t much appeal to me.
I’m reluctant to get involved in prompts that require an exchange of comments. It’s so time consuming, especially as I have to log in each time and leave a comment as WP won’t let me just leave a like to show that I read it.
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WP just finally admitted to me that it isn’t just my problem, it’s system wide. They claim they are trying to fix it…I can’t even write a post without logging in again. Annoying.
As to comments, that’s one reason I don’t do dverse too much. I used to try to read everyone and comment, but most never returned the favor. Even some of the hosts. So now I just look at those I have a relationship with.
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In a way that’s good news. If enough people are affected, maybe they’ll fix it. On the other hand, if it’s only the free accounts, it might be a way of nudging us to a paid one.
The gripe I have with dverse is that we don’t all get the prompt at the same time. Some receive the prompt in advance so can post the minute it goes up. If you read the poems in order of arrival, the same people get their poems read by everyone, and the poems at the tail end don’t get read by many people at all. I certainly don’t read all of them.
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I’m sure that’s true. I never do a prompt right away.
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I agree with Jane. You make this look easy. As i’ve said before, you make every form your own.
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Thanks Merril. I’ve always liked the golden shovel as a form. Like the shadorma, it seems to fit my way of writing.
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You’re welcome, Kerfe.
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” I’m
in need of unburdening. Forgiveness. To be free.”
Lovely, K. 🙂
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Thanks Kitty.
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You are welcome, K. 🙂
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Perfect completion of the Golden Shovel! I love how this unfolds. The art with the out stretched arm is captivating!
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Thanks Muri. It’s an old collage, but I thought it matched well with the poem.
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Kerfe, I am genuinely in awe of how smoothly this poem flows – I would never have guessed that it’s a shovel if I didn’t already know.
❤
David
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I struggled with this form but your verse looks effortless. If only the barriers would melt away.
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We can only keep working towards it. Thanks Punam.
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Indeed. You are welcome.
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Love the play of words and voices. Your moon is very out-spoken. That’s an interesting quality in a moon. Love the response to the moon as well.
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As well she should be. Conversations can be found in many places, most, in fact.
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It’s a poetic outlook to find companionship widely in the cosmos.
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Hi, Kerfe ❤
I just want to let you know that this week's W3 is now live, and it'll be open until Sunday morning, 10:00 AM (GMT+3).
I hope you can join us this week 🙂
~David
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Thanks David. Much to fit in this week, so I can’t promise anything.
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Just take this as a friendly public service announcement 😀 ~ no pressure!
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Hi, Kerfe ❤
I just wanna let you know that the W3 prompt for this week (hosted by the lovely Britta Benson) is now live:
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Thanks David.
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